


The Book of Love

by thechieftain



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-11-19 13:48:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 59,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11314689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thechieftain/pseuds/thechieftain
Summary: Sarada often looked to her parents with a morbid curiosity. Long before her time, they begun a journey unfettered and alone, where love budded as they dreamed of spring in autumn evenings. It is in the stories of their past that their daughter seeks to understand them. [A take on the interim years between Sasuke's journey and Sarada's Birth] Mature themes and eventual smut abound.





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> I'm importing a story I worked on some time ago onto here. I also update it on fanfiction.net but due to heavy workloads, it wasn't possible until now to continue, despite wanting to. I'll likely update it here and there. Comments are deeply appreciated.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One story begins with another.

Coming home early was now a strange habit that Sarada had developed. Though the house felt smaller, having her father around was a highlight that she'd never actually admit to. Strangely, she was drawn to to the man who's path she denounced, and his lack of openness about the full contents of his life made him a target of curiosity.

Today she had been taken to a store by him to pick up a small gift. Sarada knew her mother's birthday was coming up, but she didn't realise that Sasuke himself knew until he had presented her with a small porcelain figure. It was in shape of a slug. "Do you think this is acceptable?" He asked this with no tone of emotion, nor any visible sign of contemplation. This expression broke the moment that Sarada herself grimaced.

"I think maybe...we're talking about the same person, right? Mom?"

The man furrowed his eyebrows, his lips twitching once in hesitation before placing back the object just as he had found it. "There are a great many deal of baubles here. It's difficult to discern what she'd like."

"How could you know what she likes? You haven't exactly been here to find out, haven't you?"

This comment, biting as it sounded coming out of Sarada's mouth simply left a thoughtful silence behind it. Fully turning to his daughter, the Uchiha patriarch leaned down slightly, and she in turn moved a step back, then took another one. No words were spoken between them as he watched her, and though in the end he finally shut his eyes and turned his attention back to the statues, he remained generally unphased by her words, leaving her with a rather curt response instead.

"I know my wife."

"Do you?"

"People can say they change, but in truth only their inner nature is revealed." He picked up the slug again from the shelf and inspected it carefully before taking literally every single one off the shelf, much to the Uchiha child's utter horror. The purchase was quiet and with few words, with Sarada hesitantly following behind his footsteps until they started making their way towards another shop. She frowned at the way that her father spoke, but said nothing about it. It was clear that he had his reasons (no matter how ridiculous) and there was no convincing him otherwise that her mom might not like the idea of receiving a statue of a mollusk for her birthday- or a hundred for that matter.

Sarada would rush up to the man, but before she was able to get a single word out, half of the small boxes that carried the small figurines were given to her- a load that more than covered half her face from him before he'd begin walking once again. She struggled and fumbled to and fro to keep the boxes from falling out from her grip. It was enough to give Sasuke a twinge of a smile when he looked back momentarily. His own boxes were neatly in his folded arm without much effort however, and it wasn't long until the man decided it was probably for the best if he held all of them. Walking back to the struggling Sarada, he knelt down and placed all the boxes on the floor, before taking the ones his daughter had into his own arms and gently pouring them onto the floor. With his knees in the dirt, he started to stack the small boxes into a column.

When his daughter attempted to help, her hand was met with the Sasuke's stub, which was raised up to halt her from approaching. "C-Can't you at least use shadow clones?" The guilt and thoughts of ineptitude were bubbling in her core.

"Please take my cloak and hold it open."

"But-..." She trailed off as she watched her father make a stack that nearly topped off over her arm's highest reach. As he knelt once more to pick up the column from it's base, he threw them up into the air, only to see a suddenly panicked Sarada rush with the cloak to catch the whole load- which for the most part, she did. The single one that managed to drop out of her reach was caught by the man himself before placing it along with the others in what was now a makeshift sack.

It was really all worth absolutely nothing in the end, and Sarada begrudgingly tied together the cloth that held their purchases. "Couldn't you have just asked the man in the store for a few bags? I could have carried those."

"No."

"Do you always make things more difficult than they need to be?"

Sasuke looked back at her, looking her over carefully before bending down to her level. "I am capable." He placed his hand on her shoulder and patted it before brushing up and through her hair. The moment they made eye contact, Sarada grew slightly more tense- but as fast as Sasuke noticed, he would break it, furrowing his eyebrows. "I know you don't understand...and I'm not upset you're asking these questions. The fact that I did not walk a beaten path means I may have to do things differently now, but I want to make sure you're a part of that."

Those words caught her attention, and at this, he smiled, as he saw a slight shimmer in her eyes. It was familiar, and a ghost of a smile flickered on his face as quickly as it went- barely noticeable, but noticed. It captivated his daughter that there was some sense of joy in a man that had difficulty expressing anything, and although she was still frustrated, in a way, she found his mannerisms fascinating.

* * *

The door slammed open. " **I NEED TO UNDERSTAND DAD,** " she shouted into the house, a comment that was immediately received with a pink head slowly rising from the sofa. The corners of her eyes were creased as she wiped away the sleep from them. What had she said? What was Sarada going on about? "Understand your dad?" She sat up at this moment to see that Sarada herself was peeking into the house.

The young Uchiha walked in, alone and with nothing in hand before slipping off her shoes at the door. "How could you fall in love with a guy like that? He's so...strange."

"Not to insult your question, but you wouldn't exactly be here if we didn't fall in love." Her question had touched a nerve, and trying to even out her voice was probably as important to her as sitting up to make room for her. From the look on her face, Sarada knew she was _invited_ to sit beside her mother, and she'd do so, seeming as tense as ever in face of the question. "He's your father, Sarada. And he's no more strange than Naruto is."

"Uncle Naruto is the Lord Seventh! He's not the same thing! He's always there...for _everyone_ and it isn't awkward or frustrating or just...weird." The concentration on her face was familiar to Sakura, and the searching eyes that she saw stirred something within her that somehow made the woman feel at ease. She understood it, and with that, she simply wrapped an arm around her child and held her close. "It's not as difficult as you think it is. If you want to know why your dad is as he is, you shouldn't ask why, but how."

"How?" She looked up at her mom with curiosity.

She nodded at this and offered a smile. "How he changed. How he became a better person. How he opened up and let love come into his life where there was none before."

Sarada had caught onto the context quickly and hesitated for a moment. "Wait...you're saying that things were _worse_ before you two got together?"

Pulling her hand away from Sarada, she made an odd face. "Don't take it like my love _saved him_ or anything like that! But for the most part, things were difficult before, yes. It's not a story that I should be telling you though. At least not now."

"Could you at least tell me everything else?"

"Alright."Sakura leant forward and hung her head to the floor. Whilst her eyes where hidden from view by shadows, she furrowed her eyebrows before taking a deep sigh. Her head then tilted up, towards the roof, as she begun to recall the story, cobbling as many pieces of memories together to spin into a tale for her wide eyed child.

"It all began after the war when he came back to us and left again, but this time with a promise and a journey..."


	2. Aphelion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Within the frigid weather, a hand of help is extended to Sasuke. Sakura tells the tale of this to Sarada.

 

He left the previous village on a cold winter morning, and he rubbed his hands furiously as the wind picked up, chilling his entire body. Perhaps this was not his best idea, but he needed to leave as soon as possible. He couldn't get comfortable anywhere. He couldn't let a domestic life continue to entice him into forgetting what had to be done. The journey he had to take was to cleanse his soul with open eyes and absolve him of sin through helpful deeds. Neither Kakashi nor Naruto could absolve him of the guilt that weighed in his heart, even if they had pardoned him for his crimes.

The days bore no signs of good luck as they passed. Sasuke wandered aimlessly through the roads, meeting no one as an early freeze began to set in. Yet the beginning of another day made more difficult by an unforeseen, with the way the dark clouds billowed over the area, it didn't even seem like it was daytime anymore- let alone the morning. It wasn't long until it was obvious that the man could not traverse much further, and he turned towards a massive tree on the side of the road. Making a hand sign, he blew a small, yet concentrated ball of fire. However, instead of up and lighting the tree on fire, it made a very large dent into its trunk, which he was quick to squat into. The snow that had accumulated on Sasuke's head instantly melted from the heat of the hole, wetting the man's head. His hair drooped over his face, momentarily blinding him before it was quickly parted—at which point there was already someone standing over him, looking down at the man pushed up into the small crevice.

It was a woman- a strange sight to behold. Her skin was almost pale enough to compare to the snow, with piercing grey eyes to match. Her bluish-slate hair, though thick, fell limp over her back and shoulders. Fine boned, with narrow shoulders and a gaunt face, her lithe, delicate form made her feminine features all the more otherworldly. Sasuke was taken aback after first glance, and flicked his eyes away from her. Looking back up, his gaze met her's, and he noticed that her pupils held no life in them.

"You're a long way from home." She held out a hand to him, and though it was warm, the snow on her hand only melted the slightest bit. Sasuke watched a single drop reach the ground from her hand and instantly turn back into ice. He frowned slightly at this, and looked back up to her. "Why are you out here in this storm? It's impossible to walk around...especially in civilian's clothing." He took notice of the clothes she wore, and the lack of any shinobi's gear raised his suspicions.

"I was sent out to see if there were any stragglers in the storm. I'm used to tough terrains so the last thing that's worrying me right now is the storm." Her hand was still outstretched to him, and he looked to it once more, before taking it. The warmth of his hand steamed the snow on her hand, but the touch was still cold. Thinking nothing of it, he pulled himself up before following the woman. It was difficult to brave a storm such as this. For Sasuke, this woman provided him an easy out.

Following behind her, he watched as she skillfully made her way from the snowed-in road and onto the brittle branches, delving off the road and into the otherwise dead forest. Sasuke went on behind her, but with every step, the limb that held him would snap, causing him to have very little balance. This was only made worse by the very small amount of visibility he had in the storm. Despite this, he saw her shadow not too far off in the distance and managed to make it to what seemed to be a small town of about a hundred people. There were few homes scattered over a far, visible distance. They too were fallen into a strange hybrid state of disrepair and abandon, where the windows and doors were boarded, but they all seemed as though they'd fall apart at once with a single strong gust of wind. The wood used to build them was cut down while the trees were far too young to provide structural support, and yet, they were expected to keep someone or something out. There were no roads...no lights...no semblance of modern civilization. If it wasn't for the woman that had led him here, there was nothing that wouldn't give him the idea that this was the scene of a long-gone society. There were no welcomes, only a barren snowscape dotted with clusters of homes which surrounded a massive lodge in the middle. Considering how there were no people walking around, however, he knew immediately that helping this place would be difficult.

The woman opened the door to Sasuke and he was quick to walk inside, ready to welcome the warmth of a cabin. He found the home to be only slightly warmer than the cold that had chilled him to the bone outside, and so the man was now shivering.

"Sorry, with a house like this, I can't afford to light a fire. It'd catch alight in a second!"

"You don't need to explain yourself to me." To be out of the snow was decent enough.

The Uchiha merely watched as she went from one end of the room to the other, the hearth so unused that it had collected what seemed to be a year's worth of dust. He looked back at her and furrowed his eyebrows. "What's your name?"

She turned back to him, approaching with a somewhat tattered set of blankets. "Yuki," she told him whilst handing him what would most likely be his only reprieve from the cold night. "I'm from the south, but I came up here to help as many people as I could when the war was over."

"I see. Are you some sort of medical-ninja?"

"No. I'm just someone who knows a lot about getting people patched up. My medical know-how ends at herbs, bandages and medicine. No ninjutsus here."

Sasuke seemed to scoff at the thought. How could someone who didn't know the first thing about medical-ninjutsu help in any significant way? How much could twigs and bandages help when someone has a fatal wound or even loses an arm in battle? The man caught himself in the midst of these thoughts, and it was only when he looked around to see the state of disrepair of the home that he realized that these people didn't  _need_  a properly trained medical ninja. There was little to furnish its interior. Holes let in the draft at any point of breach, with boards covering up older damage to the house. Where there would normally be an array of knick-knacks on the shelves, these held an assortment of homemade ointments and remedies, as well as worn rolls of bandages which seemed suspiciously used and reused. Medicines came in old bottles made for alcohol. The stents that would normally hold a leg in place after being broken were being used as a door holder for the bedroom. These were only civilians- poor and destitute. What they could get was all they needed. Hell, it was probably more than they could have asked for. He shook his head and scoffed again.

"Is something wrong with wanting to help now?" Yuki seemed insulted by the way her guest reacted to her words, her eyes fixated on the man himself.

"No," he spoke to her as he looked towards the hearth and started to make his way to it. "It's hard to keep perspective. I was spoiled."

Her expression softened slightly. "How so?"

There was a moment of dead air between them. Not even the ruffling of garments as they moved broke the strange silence between them. He lowered his head as he thought about it. About her. "I know a very good medical kunoichi." Feeling his body on edge, he wondered to himself why he got a sinking feeling. Almost as if to immediately shut down her existence in the conversation, he summarized her role succinctly. "She'll be the best one day."

"You definitely have some faith in this woman, don't you?" It was a question that strained him. Why was she trying to continue this? Was it guilt he felt in his chest for her? The pangs came like pulses, faster and harder with agitation. Still, he tried to cover up how he felt by simply continuing to try to end the conversation. "I only say it because it's fact. She was trained by the Fifth Hokage, who is the greatest medical shinobi of the age. The torch will pass onto her eventually." He turned away from her at this point, and his face was no longer visible. Still, it did not end.

"Has she saved your life?"

"Multiple times."

"Do you know her personally?"

"She was my teammate."

"I see..." Yuki folded her arms, a smug look on her face, eyebrow raised and a grin as she smiled. No wonder he was so sensitive, she thought to herself. Why would he be so fast to drop a conversation if he wasn't emotionally invested in her? It would be so much easier to speak of someone you didn't know or didn't like rather than the opposite. "So are you sweet on her? Interested in this 'greatest kunoichi of the next generation'?"

"No." It was stern and solid, but the fact that he did not say this while looking the other in the eyes seemingly made her more suspicious of his words. She couldn't believe that such wasn't the plan.

"If you say so~" She chimed.

An opening to  _anything else_  at last! Sasuke was quick to take it by not delving on the matter further. Instead he would ask about something a little more in line with his goals. "Tell me about this village." It was a good start. Perhaps there would even be the chance for him to do his work in the humble little town.

"Well, the village is pretty new. Half the people here are veterans and the other half are people displaced by the war. Enough of them found their way to this opening in the forest and… well, here we are."

"So the people here  _aren't_ simply civilians."

"Well, only half of us aren't. But then half from that are crippled in some way. Missing an eye or a limb is commonplace. People who are heroes… people who can afford to go home, often do."

"Hm," He shifted under the cloak and pulled the nub arm closer to his chest. "Makes sense."

"Well… should be time to sleep. It's only going to get colder out."

Sasuke nodded and took to cleaning out a spot for himself before the opening of the fireplace. The hearth was bitterly cold—just as the rest of the house, and as he drifted off to sleep, he noticed that the said fireplace itself was as unused as it was on the day it was first built.

The next morning, the storm had died, but the wind itself was strong, and the snow blew at an angle.

Still, people attempted to go about their business as much as possible.

Walking around the village, Sasuke was left to his own devices as Yuki had left to attend to the sick of the village at a longhouse that had been converted into a makeshift hospital. Walking near it, he could hear the pained wails of those fresh with the grief of death. Groans of those still suffering echoed as well, adding to the song of misery. The air around the place made him slightly uncomfortable. He resisted the idea of entering unnatural elements, but in the end decided that where he was most needed was in there.

He stepped into the longhouse—a building packed with people, beds, and makeshift equipment. There were easily sixty people completely pressed together in the small room, visiting their respective friends or family. Rings of people around the ill or dead left only a small crevice of space that allowed Sasuke to move forward. However, it was when he reached the end that he found the thickest crowd. Slowly, he made his way to the front, squeezing in between balding men and unkempt women.

"What happened here?" He asked as he finally managed to reach the front, only to catch sight of Yuki. Her hands were drenched in blood, and her clothes were splattered with it. It was a senseless appearance, but he did not flinch at it.

"A couple was found dead not too long ago near a frozen river. I tried… I tried to help them but I failed."

He simply narrowed his eyes at this. "What did they die of?"

"Murdered."

"Are you sure?"

It was a question that brought ire into the woman's eyes, and she was quick to uncover the bodies. However, she only did so until the shoulders. Their necks were visibly cut, with one of their tongue's prodding out the slightest bit, almost as though someone tried to yank it. This was enough to cause a scene, including the shrill screams of one woman in particular and two others screaming towards the bodies. " _My baby_ ," one of them cried out. It made the man feel smaller… more grounded to hear the despair that others experienced. Never had he actually  _heard_  a mother's wail as he did, nor seen a father suffer at the sight of seeing his daughter's body desecrated and displayed for others to see. He felt drained experiencing this all, but soon found reprieve in Yuki calling his attention.

Yuki, seeing the distress of the people around them merely covered them with tarps once again. "The slits in their throats had to have come from a knife or a kunai. Their bodies are stiff from the cold, so the rips were preserved well enough."

He did not wait to turn around and squeeze his way out of the crowd again. It became unbearable. The sounds… the looks on the people's faces… he couldn't possibly  _have_  enough empathy to continue. "I will look into it."

"What?"

"You and your town have let me stay so far… just let me look into matters." It was definitely better suited for him than to stay here. He just wasn't able to take something like this with his new perspective. At the very least, he was good at tracking things down.

"And what makes you so certain that you can find anything? You're an outsider."

Glancing back at her, his sharingan was activated, and he narrowed his eyes at her, letting her catch a small glimpse showing before he turned away. "So are you." And with that, he was out of sight.

The doors flung open as he disappeared, letting in a gust of wind that blew the blankets off of those who were either too ill to hold them down, or were dead.

The Uchiha himself appeared halfway across the village and started to walk slowly again, making his way to the frozen river. He had heard from echoes around the small town that it lied south of the village leader's home. Making his way past it, he stopped and looked towards the building.

It was certainly nothing impressive- a small shanty of a cabin, certainly one of the smaller homes. The wood that formed its walls were old and rotting, and there were places where a single careless bump would threaten its structure. It was a place not befitting even a scoundrel of a prisoner, let alone a leader of any village. However, the sign did say it was the leader of this particular village's home, and so he stopped. Looking towards the direction of the river and back to the home, he gave both a thoughtful look. In the end, Sasuke ended up opening the door to the home, only to see that a man sat at a table with two young boys and a girl.

All three had eyes that shone as green as endless fields. They were beautiful. It was jarring. Out of strange instinct, he took a step back.

"Who are you?" The father's eyes were similar to his own- a soft onyx hardened with years of life. They eyed the cloaked man with suspicion, and in turn, Sasuke approached the man carefully, making sure of course, to reveal his hand as he did so, as to not allow himself to be mistaken for a threat. "My name is Sasuke. I have come to ask you about the murders." He looked to the children and saw that their eyes were also a shade of black. A trick of the eye? At this, he lowered his glance.

"Alone."

Looking at his children, the father motioned them to leave the room, outstretching his hand to one of the many unpushed chairs left by the younger ones. Sasuke took the one closest to the father and put his hand on the table gently. "I need to know what you know."

In response, the man leaned forward. "I saw you this morning with Yuki. I know as much as her about what may be going on. By that of course, I mean I don't know a damn thing. They just all show up the same way. Slit from the throat, frozen from the cold. Never do get the courage to see the rest of their bodies after Yuki's covered them up."

"So you're saying that there has been a string of murders… and they all started after it got cold? That can't be too long ago." It shouldn't have been happening to begin with! Of course, saying that would be far too obvious, no matter how frustrating.

"You assume right. The deep freeze started maybe a week ago."

Sasuke pressed his hand against his forehead, trying to hold back the headache that was forming. The two things were connected, he knew. "Did anything happen before that might have triggered it?"

"Well, there were these ninjas from the Hidden mist village who moved in… but we can't pin anything on them. They've taken to ice fishing and tend not to bother anyone."

A lead? The younger would take anything at this point and simply decided to go along with it. "I suppose I'll have to start there." And with that, he stood up, bowing with respect to the man. "Excuse me for having intruded." Of course, before he got the chance to leave, the leader had reached out to him.

"Hey… Sasuke, is it? Say… before you go, Yuki came in today saying you knew some top-notch medical ninja. One of them trained with the Fifth Hokage?"

He didn't like where this was going. "Yes, I did mention her in passing." His eyes darted in another direction. "Could there be someone who hated all the victims acting out in revenge?"

"We could really use the help."

At that moment, he had remembered that she had wanted to come along with him on his journey. How he had told her that she couldn't come because it wasn't her journey to take. It still wasn't. He  _still_  wouldn't allow her to distract him from his healing and atonement.

"I don't like the implication. It's not as though I can call her to my whims whenever I ask of her." Sasuke resisted the idea of inviting her. "I can find others from the same village who can do what is needed." He looked out the window at that moment and saw a tree in the distance. There was something glimmering from it, but before he could focus his attention on it, the older man spoke up again.

"Please. We need the help! We need someone who can do something in the longhouse! At least a quarter of the village is lodged up in there dying or dead! We'll die out before this damn snow's melted!"

Sasuke was silent as he stood up, and walked slowly from the table to the door.

The leader protested this. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

Opening the door, he saw things more clearly. He activated his sharingan to catch the shimmer that caught his eye upon the tree. It was something that made his eyes widen slightly. A single pink petal clung to the branch of a tree. Alone but still there, it was surviving an unnatural winter, still clinging to the tree that gave it life. He shut them at that moment, the color of blood draining from his iris as he relented with a sigh. In a way, he felt it coming. The last thing he wanted was always the first thing in his hand. And this time, he was doing it to himself.

"I will send a hawk."

* * *

Sarada watched as her mother fell silent, and her cheeks puffed up gradually, a deeply upset frown replacing what had originally been shivering excitement!

"This… this has almost nothing to  _do_  with you and Papa! I mean, you were  _mentioned_ but you weren't even in the picture! You even said that dad didn't care about you!" Old feelings began to resurface, and the expression of discouragement on her face was damning proof that she now questioned something as pivotal as the love between her parents.

The Uchiha matriarch tried her best to keep her daughter calm as the frustration began to build within the little one. She noticed it in her eyes. "I never said that he didn't care about me. He just wasn't interested at the time! That's the whole thing with stories that involve change. First, you are or aren't something, and then you… well,  _change_."

"But Papa says people don't change!"

"Your father says a lot of things. Not all of them are true. Besides, there's a lot more to tell before we actually get together."

"Are you  _serious_?! Shannaro, this is ridiculous! I  _never_  get a straight answer when I talk to you!"

And with that, Sarada stood up and bolted out the door of the house. Sakura stood up behind her, but knowing there was literally no way that she would be able to get her to come back and listen to the rest, she simply sat down again on the living room sofa.

"That child of mine… unbelievable sometimes," she sighed, pulling her cell phone and placing in the password. The moment that it booted up, she pressed the number "7" speed dial and put the phone up to her ear. After only two rings, a muffled voice answered on the other side.

"She's headed your way."


	3. Zenith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke knew mistakes were made.

Sarada only managed to make it as far as the streetcorner before tripping over and landing face first into the dirt. She slowly flipped over and sat up, only to see a line of porcelain slugs on the street, neatly in form of of a sweeping curve around the opposite side of the street and past the next corner over. She quirked an eyebrow at this, and slowly gets up. Slightly wobbly and strained from the fall, she makes her way around the corner, only to find even more slugs, all lined up in an elegant curve across the way.

Sarada looked at them with suspicion, slightly irrate at the idea of her father having bought out an entire country's worth of tacky little statuettes. She only looked even more annoyed when she actually saw him bent down on the floor, slowly arranging the figures in a uniform line. Did he seriously have that much time? "What are you even doing?" She put her hands on her hips, leaning down towards her father.

Sasuke doesnt respond to the question. Instead, he simply stands up, quickly towering the other that had looked at him with contempt and disrespect. "You know what I'm doing." He extended his hand out to her before letting it fall beneath the cloak once more. "The more important question is why you were causing your mother grief?"

She flinched at the comment. "Huh?"

"You know better than to leave while she's talking to you."

"How did you know that any of that even happened?"

From underneath his cloak, his only hand would shuffle around, and would come to reveal a black cellphone. It seemed rather old, with a screen the size of his thumb, but new enough that it had a colored screen. On this screen, it would show Sakura's face, looking completely mortified in the front gates of Konoha. The embarrassment from being scolded had Sarada slowly contorting her face in the same manner. It was certainly not a flattering look on either of them. "There's electricity in Konoha," he replied.

There was a momentary staredown between the two of them, and it wasn't long until Sarada folded, looking away in shame. Sasuke simply continued to look at her, and she could feel his glance burning at her cheek. He merely squatted down to be at her level and put his hand on her shoulder.

It didn't take any convincing to get her to talk. "Mom told me about when you went to some village out in the woods. You met a girl named Yuki. There was a murder and you sent a message out to my mom to come help even though you wanted her to stay away-It's...it's all lies! It has to be! It makes no sense!"

Sasuke nodded. "Of course it doesn't. It's not true." She glanced up at him, seeming somewhat redeemed by his agreement. Of course, the stern expression on his face didn't let up. It wouldn't be so simple. "Your mother is right, I did end up calling for her. However, there are certain details she probably changed...left out...things that happen when you don't get the story from the person that was there. For example, your mother most likely would have you believe it'd only been a short while since I left the village...maybe a few months at most. It'd been two years."

"Two years?" She parroted her father in question, looking at him with slight shock. He nodded to him and patted her shoulder. "Two years. Maybe a few months as well. We'd not spoken since then, but I was back in the Land of Fire because I had heard that there were displaced refugees trying to get back to the Land of Water."

"But the snowstorm stopped you?

He shook his head at this, moving his hand to his knee to keep himself steady. The stubbed arm hung lower to balance himself out. "It only slowed me down. I took shelter in caves at night or behind a thick brush from the trees."

"Mom said you used your fire jutsu to make an indent in the tree."

Once again, he shook his head, but now he would stand up straight right after. "No...that's impossible. The tree would catch alight."

Sarada nodded knowingly, and she saw her father smirk at this. It was almost light hearted, but in his eyes, there was a glimmer of disappointment.

"At least you have the common sense to not believe everything you hear. Everything you see. It's a good skill." He motioned her to follow him and begun making his way down the line of slugs until he reached the corner, and jumped up onto the rooftop before taking a seat there. Sarada would follow in his steps exactly, placing herself beside him ontop of the apartment complex that they lived in.

"She made it sound so much more immediate...some of the things she said..." She thought for a moment, looking down to the tiles on which they were sitting on. She felt his heavy hand on her shoulder, and looked towards him, only to find similar eyes staring right back.

"Its the story is more romantic that way; It's the way your mother has always thought, But I didn't meet Yuki in the midst of a snowstorm while cramped into a hole in a tree. She wasstanding in the middle of the road and pointed me in the direction of her village. I was given my own lodge. It was small, and filthy, with holes that let in the draft, but it was slightly warmer than the blizzard that was outside. I took what I could."

She looked at the man with hesitation, and glanced right back at the floor, her eyes making quick, short movements. "Did the...conversation you had...the one with Yuki..." Once again, her eyes returned to him. "Did it happen?"

The father went from staring at his daughter to the sky, squinting slightly as the sun blinded him. The wind started to pick up, and with it, the cloak he had started to shift, moving freely in the wind. It slightly obscured her sight of him. "Some of it."

"Which parts?"

"The important parts."

She didn't understand what this meant, and glowered at the floor, feeling frustration rising again. Sasuke was quick to correct himself, knowing that patience was running short. "What's important is that I mentioned her. The leader therefore asked me to bring her to the village...at the edge of the Land of Fire. I knew it would take a couple of days just to get the message to her. I also knew I therefore couldn't just sit around and wait for her to come help the village."

"So what did you do? You don't know how to heal people like she does, do you?" She leant closely, surprised at the idea that her father could have been a medical ninja.

He quickly shook his head again. "I sent a message to her, and went on the move."

* * *

The hawk beat it's wings against the ground, a massive bracelet on it's foot. It lifted itself from Sasuke's arm, and and went in the direction of the wind, due south towards Konoha. It had always been the path of least resistance, and if there was a response letter that would come to him instead of help, it wouldn't be in his hands for at least a week. He turned away as the bird would fade into distant clouds and ran towards the frozen river. It was his only lead, and the best place to start searching for answers. 

He could not use his eye's special properties. Abuse of the rinnegan had left him with only a partial amount of his chakra-- not nearly enough to activate his ocular jutsu. He had to do things the old fashioned way.

It was a short dash, as the man nearly slipped on the ice and fell flat on his back. The only thing that had caught him was the edge of the bank, where a box full of live bait was dented by his foot as he came to a halt.

"Eh?" One of the three men that sat around a hole in the pond looked towards the direction of the sound, and saw the man that had kicked at their box. "Hey! Careful with that! Hows are we supposed 'ta fish if we ain't got no bait, eh? Fucking watch it there!" Standing up to face Sasuke, it was seen that his left leg was missing. In it's place was a peg leg made of welded iron which held the Hidden Mist village's symbol. That was definitely one of the men he was looking for. Glancing towards the other two for a moment he saw one missing an eye, the socket indented and sown shut whilst the other's body was riddled in scars. The three of them were sure to have experience fighting.

"Do you know anything about the murders that have been happening in the village?" Sasuke was direct, quickly getting to the heart of the matter. He didn't want to spend longer with the men than he needed to- stopping the culprit before they struck again was more important.

They would, of course, give him the obvious answer. "We ain't seen nuttin'. Look, that village is suspicious of us outsiders already! No one will even sell us bait for fishin'! But they don't fucking mind when we got fish to sell don't they?"

"You're talking to the wrong people, kid," said the one missing an eye. He scratched at his peppered beard before throwing his line into the small hole.

None of them seemed very interested in doing anything else that wasn't catching fish. And so, Sasuke would do the only thing that could be done in such a situation. The moment that they turned their backs on him, he would kick over the live bait with a clang, letting worms, smaller fish and insects escape.

The three of them would immediately turn around and stand up at thing, glaring at the lone shinobi. "What, you think we're playin' around, kid? We'll chop you up and use you as bait! Jashin smite you, you piece of shit!"

"Jashin?" This definitely caught Sasuke's attention. He'd traveled around long enough to know what that name meant. "You're one of those people, I take it?" His eyes locked onto the one with the missing leg. "Part of that cult?"

"Shit," the man cursed underneath his breath before turning to the other two. Neither of them knew what to say. "Look," the one legged mist ninja turned to Sasuke. "Whatever you think, it ain't us- honest and for true! We used to worship that guy...do all the sacrifices and what not but we've changed. The war has changed a lot of things." The other two nodded.

The sound of birds rapidly chirping was already heard as Sasuke's hand was immediately enveloped in electricity. The three took a step back at this, but Sasuke would quickly fill the distance by charging at the closest by, immediately piercing his body with the chidori. They yelped in shock as the cloaked man had immediately and effortlessly pierced through their friend's heart.

It was a quick death, and the moment Sasuke felt the body of the man start to slump over him, he'd carelessly pull his hand out, letting him fall right on the floor and roll back into the frozen river's ice. Blood poured out of him, making an already difficult surface to walk even slicker. It stood out stark against the blue and white hues of the surrounding area. Sasuke raised the bloodied hand, letting the sparks dance against his hand once more as the chakra once again was made visible.

" The other seemed to prepare themselves for the fight, raising their hands to make signs, but before they could utter a single syllable, the two were already falling against the floor, with holes the size of fists in their chests.

About an hour had passed before Sasuke returned to the village itself, his clothes wet from snow and dirt. His fingernails were caked with filth and blood. There were no longer dead men on the ice. It was for the best.

"The problem is solved," he opened the door to the leader's home before even knocking. He'd have of course, expected the man to wait, but found no one in particular when he stepped inside. Slowly Sasuke walked through the whole house, hand on his katana. A soft thud would come from the very end of the home, and the man was very quick to make his way over, slamming the door open to find two of the three children huddled together on the bed. They screamed at the sight of him, his current look not doing him any favours to calming them down from their hysterics.

Sasuke was very careful to not agitate them any further and knelt at the bed to look them in the eye. "What happened?" The smaller of the two boys sobbed out, "Th-They took her!" before burrying himself into his older brother's arms. He was also crying, but seemed to be holding most of it in, in attempts to comfort the other. He saw a familiar face in that, and shut his eyes, trying his best to avoid thinking about it at the moment.

"Do you know...who it was? What they looked like?"

Neither of them said anything in response, and so Sasuke would stand up, his sharingan activating at that very moment. "Lock the door when I leave. Don't come out until your father comes home. And with that, Sasuke was gone with a gust of wind to follow that slammed the door right shut..

He knew where to go first, but before he had gotten there, he found something he didn't expect.  
The crowd was massive. It could have been the entire village, and they were all huddled closely, trying to peek over each other's shoulders. Mothers covered the eyes of their children and father's weeped openly. With his eyes, he could see, and understood that he was already too late.

Sasuke jumped over the crowd and into the opening in the center, his headscarf covering his eyes with shadows. Yuki's hands were bloody, and the young girl was in the arms of her father, gasping desperately as blood drowned her by the fresh wound in her neck.

"I've done all I could...it'll be over soon," the woman simply looked away, unable to bear the sight of her.

The father- the leader of the village immediately turned towards Sasuke the moment he stepped forward. "You..." he eyed him with a familiar hate that Sasuke knew very well. "You said you'd take care of this! Look what you've done! MY DAUGHTER IS GOING TO DIE BECAUSE OF YOU!"

Sasuke said nothing to this, and merely stood as the whispers about him picked up from the crowd. He knew he had failed.

As he looked down to the leader, shame covering him like a cloak, he felt the eyes of the entire village on him. THey judged him with contempt, and few even stepped back with distrust in their eyes. The man before them had spoken... and it was then that Sasuke decided to disappear, with a flash into the night.

Despite all that happened, he did not leave the small forested village. He had promised to solve the case, and was determined to do so- even if no one appreciated it or trusted him to do any good.

How could he be called a redeemed man if all he did was leave misery in his wake? Many watched him pass by for those two weeks, and no one dared to get close to him. Even Yuki, who knew it couldn't have been him seemed distant. He was alone again, and it was not until the end of that second week that he was approached by her.

"You do not think I did it, but you want me to help you with a lead?" Sasuke's face was covered by the shadows of the cloak which hung over his head. The strong winter winds did not blow it off, because they carried in the direction he was going.

"No, but if I dont' follow along, they'd ostracize me too...and how can I help people if they don't trust me with their wounded and ill?" Yuki held onto her own cloak, facing the winds herself. She did not look at Sasuke, and hid beneath the cover of it's hood.

He himself simply shook his head. She was unlike her in this manner. That woman would have betrayed any and every civilization in the shinobi world to stay at his side.

Yuki shoved at Sasuke's shoulder with her hand, barely moving him. "What's wrong with you? I need you in on this! This is serious!"

"I know it's serious," the Uchiha agreed, "and I'll help you, but we need to find this man soon. There soon might not be any more people to kill."

"Agreed. Go on ahead. Try to ask questions, but try not to make sure that they don't think we're connected."

Was he even capable of helping at this point? Without the support of the village, he could barely get a loaf of bread at the end of the day- let alone some answers on what's been going on. People died all around them and corpses became a regular sight, yet they only eyed him with a sense of blame, as though every life that came after he had killed those men were his responsibility.

Sasuke pressed on either way, and simply set aside a rising urge to let them all rot and continued his investigation. If he could not help make the world a better place after he nearly ruined it, what good was he as a person? What could a man heal when his body was a weapon from the gods themselves?

Sasuke never had a true ninja way, as Naruto would call it. His calling since the inception of the man he had known his entire life was to take revenge on those who had harmed him, his family, and loved ones. The life was too familiar and it was too easy to fall on those old habits. To survive in this world with changed eyes...to make sure he didn't become the person he had been destined to become, he had to change. But into what? How? He doubted in himself and knew all he wrought could not be surpassed with compassion alone.

He looked down to the snow beneath him. "I need..."

There was a flash of light. The force of him flying came before he could hear the sound nearly rupture his ears. Sasuke's body broke through wooden homes that were incinerated by the blast that came in his wake. The fireball engulfed half of the village, and what remained would be charred ashes.

It started at the longhouse.

Sasuke could barely move, let alone try to see what happened. Still, through the ringing he heard the shrill screams of horror. Entire families had been wiped out. Those that survived the blast were gravely injured, and sounded together into a low hum of agony.

"HELP!" He heard one man scream as he had been impaled by a wooden beam. Others were not quite so lucky.

Sasuke struggled to get up. He needed to get to the epicenter. He needed to know what happened! However, a shadow danced upon the roofs and the wreckage, and instantly, he realized what happened. It was the culprit again.

As soon as he was on his feet, he made his way to the longhouse, only to see in it's stead a beam of light that reached on beyond the clouds that swirled above him. Massive pieces of the earth, wood, and other debris also encircled the strange beam. What was it, he questioned to himself. "Is this from a jutsu?" He did not build any courage in order to approach the light, but before his fingers could brush against it, it disappeared, and with it, all that floated in the air would fall upon the ground, killing even more people.

"Sasuke Uchiha!"

He turned around to see the leader. He trembled weakly but his steely eyes were firm against the Uchiha. His right arm was gone, and in it's place blood oozed out. One of his eyes was closed- gone. Sasuke looked to him, and saw himself.

"Get out."

He said nothing in return, and continued to stare.

"GET OUT!"

There was a moment of silence between them before he turned around, and begun to walk the opposite way. He could hear the voices of people pained, screaming as the world burned all around them. The sky turned red, and Sasuke started to run.

He could see them again with his eyes closed. He felt small then, as they were all cut down, horribly mutilated by steel and raw power. Sasuke knew it wasn't his fault, but what could he do? They were dead.

The bleakly lit moon grew larger in the sky before turning black. His pupils dialated as everything else turned black too. People that suffered and were dead on the floor were simply outlines that oozed blood darker than night. They weren't just the faces of the people he distantly knew by name...some were his friends...family...all dead like the village. Compassion was his weakness, and it was eating him alive from the inside again.

Sasuke fell upon his knees screamed at the top of his lungs, hands to his ears as his forehead pressed deep into the snow. He couldn't stop the thoughts. He felt them racing faster than he could hope to stop them. They burned at him, making him quake as he huddled himself together into a ball, still on his knees. The cloak covered his body, and so he was a figure amongst them too. Of course, he knew he had run far. He was alone.

The memories and visions clouded him. He couldn't tell what was real anymore, and so when he looked up, he could find no source of comfort. At least not, until he heard a voice.

"Sasuke."

It was a familiar voice. He remembered her healing. Her bloody hands while he had lost his own.

"Sasuke."

No, it wasn't her. She was too far away.

"Sasuke."

He felt himself slipping out of his own conciousness. Bitting his lip, he knew he needed help, that he couldn't hope to piece anything together. He was as broken as the world he saved. However, she was out of his reach.

 _"My sins have nothing to do with you."_ Sasuke remembered those words he told her _. "This is my journey of redemption."_

She had looked to him with those eyes of her's; She had asked him to come along.

_"I'll see you when I get back."_

He made a mistake.

"Sasuke!"

A hand touched his shoulder. He looked up, his body shaking and his breath shallow. It was Yuki.  
"I saw him. I saw the way he was heading."

Sasuke said nothing.

"If you want to make things right, we need to catch up with him." With those as parting words, she would be off, and leaped into the tress as she had done before when they first met. Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows before wobbling up to his feet and following on from behind.

The path he followed would lead to an abandoned building about a mile off from the village. It seemed decrepit, and in no sort of working order. Pieces of the roof were gone, and while Sasuke would have normally used this as his entrance, he was stopped by the arm of the other, halting him from going.

"You don't know what's in there. Let me go first. You're not the only one that can actually stand a chance against them." She looked back at him with a slightly cocky smirk, and before he could say anything on the matter, she slowly walked in, with one hand out signalling to come in when she gave the say so. And so, he waited.

It was not long before he heard a scream, and immediately burst in to see what happened, only to see Yuki and the glistening of a blade at her throat. Slowly, it cut through her, and the moment it finished on the other side, she was dropped onto the floor- dead.  
Sasuke flinched at this, before his frowned deeply. "Damn it," he said under his breath. "I shouldn't have let her come in here alone."

"You're quite right, Sasuke Uchiha."

From the shadows came a man, , and he wore on his sleeve a very familiar insignia. One that immediately reminded him of the mist ninjas he had slaughtered at the river. "Another one, huh?" He felt almost immediately vindicated. "I thought I killed all of you Hidden Mist cultists."

"Ah, but you killed the wrong cultists. My friends weren't welcomed at the village, so I decided to start killing the people, one by one. When I heard that you'd killed them all in your little investigation, I decided to return the favor by killing all the people at that pitiful excuse for a clinic! That Jashin wishes for all people to burn in the raw chaos is just an added bonus." He put his hands up before shrugging. "Who would have guessed? Treating people like monsters turns them into monsters. Revolutionary idea, isn't it?"

Sasuke balled up his hand into a fist before immediately letting it open, releasing a massive ball of chakra. Electricity sparked and danced in his hands again, and would almost entirely envelop his arm.

The mist ninja laughed heartily at the technique before speaking bitterly. "Yes, that's it. You killed them with that, didn't you? Feel them die in your arms?" He put up a fists before water begun to swirl around him, coming in from the darkness. It instantly froze into place, making a shield around him. "YOU'LL PAY FOR KILLING MY FRIENDS, UCHIHA!"

Sasuke immediately bolted towards the man at lightning fast speed, at which moment the ice turned into water again. It slowed him down just enough for the mist shinobi to jump away. He grabbed from his holster, a kunai, as Sasuke drew out his sword, and as the two landed back on their feet, they immediately lunged towards each other.

In the dark, one could see the sparks fly. The equally strengthened metals clanged loudly and pierced the silenced filled only by the storm that picked up outside. It was enough to make the windows burst, and brought a bitting chill to Sasuke's body. With this, he slowed down- a fatal mistake.

The ninja grabbed the sword with his hand this time, and kicked the man away. Of course, Sasuke's grip was stronger, and he only managed to slash his hand with that move. He screamed in pain, before making his hand int a fist to stop the bleeding. "Fine...I guess we'll both be fighting with one hand tied behind our back." He dropped the Kunai at that moment and made a hand sign close to his face. "Water style, Water dra-"

Sasuke had come back and kicked the man in the face, causing him to fly right into the reenforced steel walls of the building. "You talk to much." He stood in stance, allowing for lightining chakra to surround the blade. It was enough to light up some of the otherwise pitch black farm.

His voice could be heard ringing through this darkness. "Fine, Uchiha...I guess we'll be fighting lightning with fire."

This time he heard the sizzling first, and then would come the light. Beneath Sasuke's feet, right where the other had been standing before, ten explosive tags were set off, and the Uchiha man was sent flying sky high before immediately hitting the ground.

Everything went black.

Sasuke heard his laughter in the distance but by the the time he looked up, he saw him standing right above him. He felt the heavy stomp from steel bottom boots crush his back and slam him back on the ground.

Slowly, the man bent down, pulling the katana from Sasuke's holster. He chuckled at this, and gave it a few swings before immediately latching his hand onto as much of Sasuke's hair as he could grab.

With his hair firmly gripped in his hand, the shadowy man swung around his head, maneuvering him in whichever way he felt. "So this is the true strength of the Uchiha clan, is it? You're weak...too weak to even save a damn village full of refugees, eh Sasuke Uchiha? How can you give them your word to save them when you can't even save yourself?!" He switched grips on the sword and raised it high above his head. "Well, allow me to save you the trouble of dealing with your utter failure! It's for the best...when your word is as good as dogshit."

"You're wrong," Sasuke glowered up at the man, only to have his head shaken and moved around again, so that his head was pressed against the cold steel floor.

"No, you are."

At that moment, the sword swiftly came down.

Sasuke's eyes opened wide as he jolted awake. His sharingan eye was still activated, searched the room, until it fixated on a single object- a shadow seen from the light of the door as it flooded part of the wall. The door was only slightly open, but he could see the shape. It was a woman...familiar and comforting, but were barely visible. Through the glimmering haze, there was nothing else to look at, and so his eyes closed. A pounding thud began at his head, making it difficult to concentrate. When he opened his eyes once more, the sharingan was gone.

His eyesight blurred as he looked up again, seeing the outline of the figure leaning to hovering over him. He groaned as the pain of his flesh broken and exposed began to overtake him. He felt weak, coldness coursing through his veins. His body was failing, and yet he was still alive. He shouldn't have been...he could feel the gaping hole in his stomach. Most of it had been closed, unbeknownst to him, but the phantom pains lingered...the emptiness remained like the feeling of being able to grip with his left hand when nothing remained. His eyes watched listlessly, and he felt his body rise and stir.

"You're awake..."

"Sakura?"

The figure hushed him and placed her hand on his stomach. Colours flashed brightly into his eyes, and they shut quickly in reflex. The pain was white hot, searing into the very center of his body.

Sasuke felt as the room spun in his head, and with each passing moment, he only felt sicker. The fact that she shifted him to sit up slightly in her arms only made things worse. The next noise of pain was more of a gurgle than a strain or a shout. However, despite being a weaker sign of complain, she would respond to it by passing their hand over the Uchiha's forehead.

It was a gentle touch.

Opening his eyes, he saw her face in the green light, concern etched into her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and her movements slower than usual. How long has she been awake, he asked himself in thought. Relenting to the concerns in his head, he felt a sinking in his stomach. There was a better question to ask.

"How long have I been out?"

Sakura looked at him, and he at her. As always, she broke contact first. "Two weeks."

He barely heard it but it struck him, and his eyes trembled as his hands did- in utter horror. They flickered red, as he tried to sit up the rest of the way, but it did not work. Sasuke screamed, and immediately fell back into the other's arms. His organs were not yet done healing.

"Don't do that," she raised her voice at him, and put the man back down to the floor, so that she could use both her hands to heal the damage to his abdomen.

"Sakura," he took her glowing hand, squeezing weakly. He felt that it was drenched in blood. The sharingan that had activated through a surge of adrenaline would fade out slowly, leaving only his soft onyx eyes. Shutting them, he could feel the pain radiating from within his skull...from his stomach...chest...everywhere.

"You need to rest, Sasuke. You're lucky to even be alive...you..."

His soft grip grew firm, as he used what was left of his strength. "Sakura, I need you to tell me if the people in the village are okay."

"Sasuke," She diverted her sight from him. "We're not at the village. I never got there. I found you on the floor in-front of an abandoned building- you were dying! I couldn't just leave you there...Sasuke-."

He yanked his hand off of her's and turned away. Shit, this was not good. "So you don't know anything about what's going on?"

"I haven't been there, no. I came with a team of medics...they went on ahead, but I haven't heard back from them."

He turned away his head and scowled, his eyes hidden by the shadows as be bit his lip. By this point, either everyone was dead, or the culprit was gone, or both.

Dammit.

Sakura's expression hardened at this, and she balled up her fists tightly. "You can't be so hard on yourself. You did everything you could. I'm just trying to make sure you're okay. I mean, you won't be able to keep your promise otherwise, right?" The silence between theme only riddled the woman's heart with guilt, as she could see his body struggling to move...trembling in pain both in body and mind. "I...I'm going to get some more bandages." Awkwardly, she left the room. Looking to the spot that she was sitting at, Sasuke could very clearly see two rolls of fresh bandages and grimaced. Yet another thing he messed up.

Taking another look around the room of the cabin, he found the surroundings familiar. The dusty hearth, the rickety floors and the holes that let in draft were all there. Of course, the part that struck him him as odd was that he was not cold...in fact, he was very warm. Very comfortable...but why? He didn't have his cloak and the few thin blankets that they had were on the floor beneath him, drenched in his own blood. Could it be Sakura's doing? A genjutsu to comfort the ill and injured?

No, such a thing couldn't exist. But then again, couldn't it? Things looked bleak in the room...dark with hard shadows that covered everything in sight. In comparison, Sakura was lighter...her hair was a bright pink and her eyes pierced with a green that could be seen even in the darkest night...almost as bright as her healing technique.

Maybe it was a genjutsu...

Maybe it was just Sakura...

Maybe it was the culprit, and he was still on the floor of that abandoned building- wait.

Sasuke's eyelids fell shut.

Was he dreaming?

He woke up in the steel building, looking up at a destroyed fan that spun with a shaking motion. It was barely functional, as the blast had destroyed most of the objects inside of it. His body had been slammed against the wall, and he would lie face up before it. Slowly, he stood up and pulled at his cloak with his hand. Yes, it was colder now...and the pain that he felt in his dream racked at his body, but it was manageable.

Slowly, he stepped closer to the darker part of the building, and soon he would be able to hear the soft straining of someone trying to get up. They strained, but hearing the shuffling of their sandals on the floor, Sasuke knew that he wasn't done yet. Looking not too far ahead, he saw his katana laying on the floor, and hurried up to grab it before he was attacked again. As he stood in stance, he couldn't shake away his dreams...the words that she told him

"You can't be so hard on yourself."

No, he had failed too many times. Hurt too many people.

"You did everything you could."

Sasuke gripped at his katana harder. He knew that it wasn't enough. How many times had he failed her? Failed other people that needed him?

"I'm just trying to make sure you're okay. I mean, you won't be able to keep your promise otherwise, right?"

"COME OUT HERE!" He shouted into the blackness, only to receive no response. It was a breaking point...his limit was being reached, and his thoughts raced as he tried to keep his composure. Still, he was tense, and the weight on his shoulders only seemed heavier. What was he going back to?

One could only hear the soft, strained creaking of the broken fan struggling to work, broken and ineffective.

Finally, Sasuke would catch the sound of the culprit, sucking through their teeth, making small noises of pain as moved closer to the spotlight, from which Sasuke stood beneath.

"You had to to mess things up for me, didn't you?" Their voice changed as a small explosion of air would go off...almost as if a transformation worn off. The voice itself was very familiar, and he narrowed his eyes. "You should have left after you got half the village killed."

Sasuke's sharingan eye immediately activated at this point. Their chakra system...he'd seen it before as well. Could it be...?

"The game's over...Yuki."

She stepped out from the shadows just enough so that most of her face was visible. Her eyes were wide and seemingly, she smirked at Sasuke's comment. "Oh, but the game's just begun! I managed to through you off my trail until now, haven't I? If you'd only have stayed oblivious for a little while longer...things would have been very different."

Sasuke readied his sword against her. Almost immediately, electricity started to surge from it, dancing wildly against and through the steel.

"No time for words anymore?"

"You talk too much," he repeated.

"Fine...let's do this." The woman would form a sign, and immediately lunge at him.

* * *

"Wait...you can't be serious. You're going to end the story here?!"

The male would put out his hand, palm facing upwards as though he was trying to explain something. "Do you at least understand why the story is important now? Why your mother decided to use this as the starting point?"

"Well..." Sarada seemed calmer at this point, and at the very least, not annoyed by how the story turned out. "At least the two of you were in the same room. Even if it was fake."

It was clear that she didn't understand. Sasuke kept his eyes on the skies, fixated on the slow moving clouds that now blocked the sun. "It's a catalyst. The beginning. I've done many things by myself, but those years away weren't as important as-."

"But you just said it was a dream..."

"It was." While Sarada was now laying down on the rooftop, her father stood up and shut his eyes, seemingly allowing himself to get lost in thought. It would be a good five minutes before either of them said anything, and this time, it would be Sasuke who broke the silence. "I can't even say that this alone brought me back here, but the event weighed most heavily on my mind. On my decision to return. Konoha was not my home." He turned to look at his daughter, who's attention was caught by this. "I only cared about the people. The important people. Home was where they were. If I saw too much of what life could be like," he paused momentarily, letting his eyes drift to their home's balcony momentarily. "I wanted to heal, to learn, to understand the same world with different eyes. I could never do that in a village. Not in Konoha or anywhere else."

Sarada sat up, not allowing herself to break contact with her dad. She looked curious, and though she felt herself very nervous, she steeled herself. It was all very difficult to digest. Of course, the next question in particular was very unnerving for her. "Why would you let something like that drive you back home? You literally spent most of my life away from Konoha! You didn't even write to us...but you're saying that you would have come home immediately if you didn't keep moving?"

Sasuke nodded, watching his daughter's expressions carefully. He was concerned, but she didn't resist his answer, when she would normally just begin demanding more. Instead, her question was soft spoken, "Why?"

The Uchiha patriarch squatted down again to somewhat at her level. He still looked down at her, but not by much. He tried his hardest to formulate the words in his head. "Back then there was nothing holding me back from coming home. That's all I will say on the matter." He looked down towards the street, watching as a cat would start playing with the slug statuettes. When the one he swatted would disappear in a loud explossion of smoke, it quickly darted off in fright. "Sakura and Naruto worked very hard to keep me around, so to speak. Most other people would have quit. I was...very stubborn."

"But you're here."

Once again, there was a nod of agreement. "It speaks well about how long I can stay away when it's against their wishes."

"And you leaving for eight years wasn't against mom's wishes?"

"Your mother understands when not to ask questions." It was a warning.

Sarada frowned but said nothing. She could not find words for him, and instead could only feel her heart beating and sinking to her stomach. Eventually, she managed out something, and tried to look at her father to say it. However, she couldn't, and so she looked to her feet as she spoke. "You don't have to be alone."

Sasuke looked to her firmly and spoke the same. "I never said I had to either; we three are connected."

They look at each other for a moment. And the quiet between them was very brief.

"Papa, why do you love mom?" One of the questions that had lingered since she had asked her mother the same thing about her dad. Sasuke looked on, and responded in kind. "Why do you love your mother?"

"Well, she's mama. Sure, there's Uncle Naruto and Konohamaru-sensei, but she was there the whole time."

Sasuke would go quiet at this point and jumped down from the roof, leaning down to rearrange the slugs on the floor in a way that would cover up the somewhat gaping hole left behind. Sarada herself was left on the rooftop and only stood from it- not follow back down.

"H-Hey...aren't you going to respond?!"

"I believe I already did," he shouted back to her from his spot

Sarada jumped down from the roof, seemingly confused and about to ask something else. Instead, before she was able to get anything else out to him, Sasuke tapped her forehead and simply said, "In time."

"But..."

"In time."

Sarada touched the spot on her forehead and blushed slightly. Of course, Sasuke wouldn't have seen any of this, he worked to fix the small frail slugs on the floor and seemingly focused himself on the task. Still, it didn't mean he wouldn't speak.

"I'll continue the story."


	4. Perihelion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the battle ends, Sasuke turns his eyes towards Konoha.

" _It's pathetic...that you would wait for me this long._ "

Sakura looked up at Sasuke from her seat. They sat beside each other at a makeshift bar made from the rubble of the previous building. Both were still considerably injured, with Sasuke donning bandages on most of his visible body and having his left eye closed. Sakura herself was walking with a cane, too weak to walk on her own after essentially using up three year's worth of chakra. Strangely enough, things had progressed fast in what was essentially only one short week and a half.

The war had been won, and the world awakened from the Infinite Tsukuyomi. With everyone now aware of the great feats of Team Seven, they would literally let them have run of the town, much to the glee of Naruto, who immediately would whisk himself away from the group for most of his time thereafter. Kakashi, who was due to become Hokage as Tsunade had stepped down was also nowhere to be seen.

Had Sasuke any other choice of person to interact with, he most likely would have made it, but considering that he was still yet not forgiven for his crimes, people were apprehensive at best about him being in the village. As one of the four heroes of the world, the title and glory would only grant him so much leniency after all that he'd done.

He didn't deserve to be sitting next to her.

Sakura held the cup of tea in her hand with a fist and gripped it tighter as she heard him. "You know, you didn't have to come here. Asking me to talk to you...honestly, I should have known better." It was difficult to discern why the woman had been acting so oddly, ever since he had finished his battle with Naruto. She was...different, somehow.

Sasuke stayed silent momentarily, swishing the alcohol in his own cup before setting it down. It was strong enough that Sakura could smell it from where she sat- he knew because she immediately complained. He'd never had the stuff before, and seeing it now before him, he had second thoughts. "...I had something to tell you." The cup was pushed away from him, untouched, much to the ire of the bartender that had broken rules to give it to him.

"Huh?" This caught the kunoichi's attention, and she immediately leaned over. "What is it?"

There was a hesitation, as Sasuke brought the cup closer to him again, eyeing the liquid inside with careful contemplation. "I wanted to talk about Konoha's progress. Things have been going well and-"

Sighing, Sakura stood up from her chair and began to walk away from the building, leaving Sasuke to foot for the bill. Before he was able to check for his wallet however, the bartender predictably immediately told Sasuke to get out. Looking back to the cup, he quickly took a swig of what was inside before walking out behind Sakura. It was definitely strange behavior from her.

Sakura stopped about two destroyed buildings down from the bar and turned around to face Sasuke, a deep frown etched on her face. "Sasuke," she couldn't exactly outrun him normally, so in this situation it would be hopeless. It would be better to just explain. "What you're talking about...those are buildings...monuments. _People_ don't recover so easily. I thought you of all people would know that."

This immediately struck with him, and Sasuke would stay silent for what seemed to be an eternity. He knew that she was watching him, and he finally opened his rinengan eye to her. She needed to see all that he was. "Sakura," he started out, only to stop the moment Sakura raised her cane up towards him.

"Look...I'm not the same girl from the academy anymore. I'm a woman now, so you can't seriously expect me to just accept every single thing you say and do!" She took a wobbly step forward, with one hand over her heart as the other firmly placed the cane on the ground. Her eyes were fixed onto her feet, unable to look the other in the eye. "I've been to hell and back for you, but that doesn't mean-"

I'm leaving." These words were enough to immediately catch his attention, and at the pure shock that suddenly overcame her, he somehow felt vindicated.

"What?"

Sasuke ignored the question completely and simply continued from where he had left off. "I understand that you and your parents are looking for a place to stay. Kakashi and Naruto promised that the Uchiha district would be among some of the first buildings to be rebuilt." There was a hint of unease at the " _favor"_ the two were doing for him. In some ways, he knew that Kakashi probably did nothing more than rubber stamp the idea. "There would be a lot of empty homes. I don't think I'll be staying too long here so you could take residence there while I'm gone if you need to."

The medical-nin had still not gotten over the initial reaction. "Wait. you're not staying?!" She could feel the wooden cane cracking under the force of her first.

"There's a lot of the world that I haven't seen yet, and that I need to see again with new eyes. I need to redeem myself, and atone for what I've done up until now."

Sakura took a few more steps towards him, until she was essentially in his personal space. Unable to lean up towards him, she merely looked up with an intensity that seemed unrivaled by many in her eyes. "And you don't think that you could do a lot of good here at home? Shannaro, you just got here and you're leaving just like that?!"

He remained generally unfazed by her reaction. "People need you here more than ever. I'm not, so before I take my place back in Konoha, I need to do this."

"And I need _you_ now more than ever," the pink haired kunoichi protested his excuses, her voice getting louder. It caught the attention of several people on the same street, and they would stop to stare. "You can't possibly take me with you?"

Sasuke remained silent for a moment, glancing down at her. Her eyes always seemed to glimmer when she looked at him. It was a strange thing he noticed about her. His attention then turned to the people, which seemed to be expecting something from them. It was when he made eye contact with them, sharingan activated,that they would begin to wall again. It was expected that Sakura would cause a scene at this. "You haven't changed a bit."

"Huh?"

"You're the same as when we were both genin. As when you were in the academy and before that as well. All you did was reveal your inner nature." Sasuke felt his left hand burn at that moment, only to look down and remember it was not there anymore. "What you did...what you continue to do...you were capable of all that already. So if you so choose, you are capable of waiting just a little while longer." And with that, Sasuke would turn around. Now he felt the burn in his throat, and he knew what he was feeling was real. His head was starting to pound.

"If you do, I promise that next time we meet, I'll take you with me."

. . .

Once again, he opened his eyes.

The wind picked up as Sasuke took a stance. His red eye would glow in the dark, bright enough to slightly illuminate the rinnengan that was left in the other. He lowered his head, eyes still fixed on the woman. She had played him for a fool for too long...and somehow he didn't even notice for a second that something was off! How could something like this have happened?!

He put a hand on his head and pulled his hair back. _'Focus, Sasuke. Focus!,'_ he thought to himself hurriedly. These were mistakes that he made fresh from the academy when he didn't _have_ the power he had now! If he hadn't been so distracted, he might have avoided this situation entirely! The thoughts came faster and stronger than he could will them away, and so he only barely had enough time to block the first move made by Yuki. His right eye was spinning.

There was a clang between the metals- his sword against her kunai. However, before she had time to move, he'd kick her away, letting her hit the ground harshly.

The woman coughed, and the soft sounds of dripping against the floor would sound. He knew then that she wouldn't last much longer.

"This will end now." Sasuke readied his sword for the final blow, ready to end the months of torment that she's placed on the lives of the innocent. Of course, not giving up so easily, Sasuke would once again end up on the defensive, as Yuki begun to push herself to attack with all she had left.

Each move, each movement of the muscle became known to him, and immediately Sasuke knew where to place his blade. Though he was blocking, he was letting her get weary on her own, knowing that the moment she lowered guard out of exhaustion, he would have his clean shot. This would not take long.

The murderer fell on her knee, dropping her kunai before essentially collapsing. Her body rose and fell with her breaths, and through the stray rays of moonlight, he could see the reflection of blood pooling up beneath her.

"I wonder...how much chakra you used up trying to fool me into believing you were dead. How much you spent trying to fight me in a transformation. Had you not been a coward, you wouldn't have ended up like this."

It was clear at this point, that she had resigned herself to her fate. "Shut up," she said, looking out into the darkness. When there was a stillness and silence in the air, she would smile and shut her eyes. "You wouldn't understand how hard things were. Being discriminated...seeing your friends suffer...I was able to make something of myself and earn their trust but they..."

Sasuke wouldn't falter as she spoke, keeping the sword raised, but shut his eyes in acknowledgement. "I'm sorry."

"I know you are. I can see it in your eyes."

Opening them again, he looked at the one below him carefully, and grimaced. There was another moment of quiet between them as the Uchiha raised his blade. "Too many people take advantage of compassion."

"Perhaps if they didn't, there would be a lot more of it."

"Yeah." Sasuke impaled the woman, hearing scream pierce through the otherwise barren felt as the blade cut through organs and bones, causing what would be fatal damage to someone that deserved nothing less. Of course, his eyes told a different story.

Yuki begun to leak water at that moment- a slow trickle that surrounded the steel and ran down the side of her body- before immediately bursting into water. It was another mistake.

Looking up to the broken roof, he could see small banks of snow having accumulated. Flakes slowly fell through where they could, some falling on Sasuke himself. He heard her voice calling out one last time.

_"Sorry Sasuke Uchiha, I'm not going to let myself die just quite yet..."_

She was gone, and he had let her get away. His eyes and hands would begin to tremble at this. How could he make such a foolish mistake, one after another?! "Dammit..." He had doomed them all. There was no chance at this point that he could help. They wouldn't let him. "Dammit, dammit..."

Sasuke screamed as he speared through the ice that had formed from the water below him.

* * *

Sarada pulled her first from the abandoned building before her. Her father pulled her away from the building before it ended up crumbling into pieces. He narrowed his eyes at the rubble that would remain in it's aftermath before looking to his daughter. "Your reaction to the story was more than over-dramatic." He couldn't fault her for possibly damaging people. Both of them knew no one had been in there.

"Over dramatic?! Shannaro...you..." The genin seemed to be trembling at the thought of the story. She'd put her fist up before letting it open and throwing her arm to the side, as if to reject the notion that she was doing anything irrational. "You closed your eyes! Even someone like Boruto would understand that you can't just close your eyes in the middle of a fight like that! And you knew she was dangerous too! Why didn't you just...just..." There were so many amazing things she had seen her father do, and yet he had done everything wrong.

The man could not give her an answer to the question. There were too many reasons...too many things he had failed to do so that he could give her an answer to the question. Instead, he would kneel down to her level and place a hand on her shoulder. When she would look to him, she would be met with his eye, one just like her's but unafraid and full of regrets.

All her attention back on him, she looked deep into his eyes, something which made her very anxious. There was too much she _didn't_ want to know about the look that he was giving her. With it, it would be her that became filled with fear.

"This is merely a story. If you can't take that much, then you should just give me your headband right now. You should not be a shinobi."

Sarada was taken aback by this statement, and frowned deeply at the idea that she should be stripped of her headband just because she reacted as she did. Was she supposed to be a weapon devoid of feelings? Follow every single rule down to the last detail? Looking into her papa's eyes, she wondered if he ever cried on the battlefield...if he ever broke or failed...

Of course he had. She could see it in his eyes. There was too much weakness in them for both of them. "Are we just supposed to follow the rules of the shinobi then? Did mama follow them perfectly? Did you...?"

It was an odd topic, Sasuke's beliefs of the shinobi rules. He didn't make top marks on paper like Sakura (though he was best at everything else), and with time away from the village, most of these rules fell from his memory banks. However, there was one particular rule that gave him all he needed to know. "To be a shinobi means to struggle. The _rules_ of a shinobi...you can't follow them all. Some will save your life, and some will kill you from the inside." He would continue, unblinking. "If you don't follow the rules however, you risk becoming something worse, however. From the words of Kakashi: 'Those who don't follow the rules are scum.'"

"Huh? The Sixth Hokage said that?"

Sasuke took a moment before remembering that Kakashi _had_ been the Hokage for a time. Not that he was there for most of it. "He said many things...though I suppose that you can ask him yourself tomorrow."

There was a rumbling in the distance, though Sarada was quick to ignore it. "Huh? Why?"

The Uchiha patriarch activated his sharingan at that moment and walked in front of Sarada. "Because that was Kakashi's old home you just destroyed."

"Wait what?!" Her eyes opened wide at this, as she felt as though her heart would sink so far beneath her that it could burn up in the Earth's core. "N-No way...I..."

"Your mother was also watching us."

"WHAT?!"

Looking back through his left eye, he made sure that he would be alert to the rumbling that slowly begun to grow louder. Her arrival was now imminent. "You knew that she arranged for us to speak. That part would seem obvious, wouldn't it?"

The sharingan began to change shape in Sasuke's eye as a heavy miasma filled the air as the figure of the woman would come from the sky. She had leapt far and came in very quickly. From the chakra that begun emanating from his body came a purple humanoid skeleton that shielded the area itself from the impact. He knew that she was not aiming at them, but before Sakura could and and strike the ground, it was the ribs that were struck, with the one against the fist cracking immensely. Still, it held enough so that Sakura could realize what she was dealing with.

"Sasuke..." She seemed slightly in shock that he would stop her from expressing her wrath. Of course, he'd never had to stay around the village long enough that it became something he had to do. Sakura had always been quick to anger and lash out unnecessarily, but was essentially harmless when around him.

He would cease the moment that she landed on the floor and stood calmly on the ground before the two. He walked right up to her with a stern expression. "Responding to our daughter's actions with more of the same? We don't need you destroying an entire block. Enough damage has been done already."

As she watched her mother nod at his scolding, Sarada frowned and looked to the floor. Her mind was somehow elsewhere, as she pondered her father's words. "To be a shinobi means to struggle..."

Was this why she felt so strange?

* * *

A month's worth of time passed before Sasuke would see the gates of Konohagakure. Between that night in the building and today, even more would happen to drive the man back to his home, though of them, he would most likely speak to no soul. His past as an avenger would never help him to atone for anything...it couldn't. How could one heal and fix lives with weapons and violence. No matter how efficient, blood would only beget more blood in it's place, and it was only now that he'd actually begin to put words and thoughts into action.

Walking past the bushes and trees, he stepped right back on the paved path that would lead into the village. At the gate stood a dog watching guard, who barked immediately at the sight of him. Sasuke paused, as it blocked the only way inside, and looked towards the booth. In it, a man would be asleep, and Sasuke, immediately recognized him. "Kiba..."

It was only when the dog would run into the booth and pounce on the man that he'd wake up with a yelp. "Augh! Akamaru, what's the big idea, I-" Sharp eyes caught sight of wild ones, before they would widen at the sight of who it was. "Sasuke? You're back?!"

"I'm only here to pick up a few things. Supplies and..." He trailed off into thought, looking down to the floor. It was very clear in his mind who he had to see first. If he didn't do it immediately, it was very likely he wouldn't do it at all.

"Well...I guess I have to let you in, not being a criminal and all. You can thank the Sixth Hokage for that one. He put in a pretty damn good word to you!"

Sasuke didn't react to anything the other had to say on the matter and simply began to walk past the booth. He had given him entrance- anything beyond that was essentially wasted time and energy. Especially considering that he barely ever spoke to the Inuzuka to begin with. Instead he would make his way through the path that lead in and out of the village.

Passing the bench, he took a winding turn and almost immediately got lost.

In what was only the span of two years, Konoha had turned into an outright city. He couldn't even say that, seeing as he had _seen_ the village in it's entirety just a few short months ago when he stopped a meteor from destroying it! Or at the very least, he glanced at it. Had he not looked carefully enough? Either way, it was impossible to actually navigate, to the point where he was almost tempted to ask directions.

The people had also seemed to change, as people wore particularly flashy clothes with wild hairstyles in various shades of neon colors. While some regular civilians walked among them, most of the people that were out at this time seemed to be in a hurry to either find a place to drink or a place to party. It was entirely bizarre, especially considering it was only slightly past sunset.

Screens that flashed, and the echos of a news bulletin rang into his ears as faded gibberish. He paid no mind to the talking, and so it muffled his understanding any of it. However, the fact that he could hear anything _at all_ was bizarre to him. As a young genin, he relished the silent walk from the village gates and towards his home. The silence gave him the clarity to think and reflect upon the many things that weighed on him. Now however...he was lucky if he could hear himself speak, let alone speak.

That didn't stop him from hearing a very familiar voice however.

"OIIIIII, SASUKE!"

He quickly turned around to this, only to see Naruto, once again having changed his outfit. Strangely, Sasuke barely noticed that it was winter...it had been snowing ever since he'd left the village, something which he had assumed to be the work of the woman that got away. "Naruto..." The brightest thing on his man's person seemed to be a red scarf, which immediately caught his attention. "It's not cold enough for a scarf yet."

The man in the black jacket held his scarf with both hands. "Says _you_ , poncho-man! Who're you to tell me what I can and can't wear now, huh?" He grinned widely, taking what was told to him in jest before putting a thumbs up. Clearly he was more than energized. "So, you're back, eh? Gonna stay for good now right? Mission accomplished?"

The Uchiha shut his eyes. "No."

"No?!" Naruto repeated the answer in an incredulous tone. "How in the world could you not be done?! How much of the world do you need to see before you'll be done?!"

When he opened his eyes, Naruto could see how irritated that the other was becoming. "This isn't about traveling the world, loser! You know exactly what this is about. I would assume Sakura told you the details when I left and that you remember them."

There was a slight hesitation. "Yeah but..." Naruto's voice became more leveled, his eyes casting down as he spoke. It was clear there was a lot on his mind, not all things that either of them wanted to hear. "Things are changing, Sasuke. We're all changing."

"Nobody changes."

"Everything changes," Naruto replied, raising his voice slightly. "Everything. The village...our lives... all of us. You're the only one that's not here to change with us. How long are you going to be trying to chase after redemption that's never gonna come?! You literally helped save the world and the village twice! If that won't redeem you, then what in the world will?!"

Sasuke stayed quiet throughout the speech, looking right at the fellow genin. It was strange, how much sense Naruto made. It almost made _too much sense._ Still, he knew it wasn't true. He knew what he needed to do and why he was doing it, and once he was finished, he would find his place, if there was a place left, back in the leaf village. "I'm not staying," he said with conviction. "And nobody changes. Buildings...monuments...those things can be rebuilt, painted, _changed_. _People_ don't recover, don't change so easily."

Naruto became quiet at this, looking back up to Sasuke's level. It was strange to both of them that they now stood evenly.

"Is Sakura still living with her parents?"

The blond had to give this some thought before recalling. "Uh no, I think her parents moved out of that place you offered them. Too spooky or something like that. Anyways, they went back to their old place once it got rebuilt and renovated. Sakura's still living at that place."

The brunette seemed slightly surprised. "She's still living in the Uchiha compound?"

"Well, yeah, makes sense, don't it? Lots of place...pretty awesome view from the very back of the village outskirts...I mean, the police station and the prison are nearby but Sakura says that only makes her feel safer."

Deciding that the conversation is over, Sasuke immediately started to walk off, taking a few steps before entirely disappearing.

"HEY-" By the time that he got that much out, the other was gone without a trace. "Man, that guy...geez." Looking up towards one of the larger screens on the building beside them, he would see the Hokage, speaking on a talk-show about the final film adaptation to the Make Out series.

_"...when I saw the previews, I was just blown away! I definitely expect great things from this movie, especially..."_

Naruto found himself grinning at this, before shaking his head. "I guess maybe _some_ people don't change." The jinchuriki turned around and walked back the way he came, taking a left before the winding road back out to the front of the village, heading back to his own home. He checked his phone, clicking out of his text messages with Kiba before attempting to find his former teammate on his phone. He stared at Sakura's name and the picture of her Ino had taken of her at his wedding. It was strange how she smiled...in a way, it looked like she was looking through people. He could remember her vacant yet longing eyes on that day. It was enough for him to simply hold down the red button until the phone completely turned off.

"It doesn't mean you can't change though, Sasuke...for her sake."


	5. Sakura the Cabalist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her gaze meets his for the first time in years.

Sasuke had been quick to drop Sarada off at Kakashi's new place, deciding that sticking around was probably not the best idea. Hours turned into days at the Hatake residence, where everything ran an hour late and a ryo short, and Sasuke was growing too old in years to deal with the slow moving laze of his former sensei. It was Sarada's responsibility to own up to the consequences of her actions, and with all that happened during the previous day, her mother was just as eager to drop her away at the home of the Sixth Hokage. It was thus, agreed that unlike with other instances, Sarada would simply have to go alone. It was not that the Sixth Hokage was unlikable or a pain to deal with, but the parents seemed to very much value their time on this particular day. Of this, Sarada was suspicious.

She knocked on the door of the man's house before leaning back to take it all in. It was large but practical, with no fancy trimmings or emblems. It was in it's own way, an impressive place, which made the young genin long for the days where she lived in her old place.

Time moved slow while waiting, and it didn't take much for Sarada to suddenly let her eyes wander. Few things in the yard caught her attention, which in turn had her looking at her watch instead. It moved even slower when she actually looked at it, which elicited a groan of exasperation.

It was right before knocking that the door decided to open, causing her to catch her movement before she'd beat at the larger man's chest. When she looked up, her eyes met with exhausted ones. The bags beneath his eyes were not only an indication of his age, but his experience. The bottom half of his face was hidden beneath a mask of the same color as the clothes beneath the bathrobe he covered himself with. The fluff at it's fringes reminded the younger of the comforter in her room.

The two continued to watch each other, sharing eye contact without thought or speech. She had never seen the man up close before, and from the Hokage rock, his eyes looked vacant, like those of a vigilant God that cautiously watched over his land. These were nothing like that, though. These were the same eyes her father had, though instead of reflecting introspection, this man seemed tired. Perhaps this was the fate of a Hokage?

"You definitely have your father's eyes," Kakashi would finally speak, his eyes seemed almost as though he was smiling, though she couldn't tell. She looked to him curiously, a glimmer through them that seemed to catch the older off guard for almost an instant. His eyes would reveal the reflectiveness that she had thought was lost within him."But you look through them like Sakura."

She made a small sound of confusion, as their eye contact broke. His eyes were radiating on his forehead, to the point where she slapped her hand over it. She almost felt like there would be a hole through it if she didn't shield it from view.

It wasn't until she heard footsteps fading away into distant echos that she looked up a gain. It was taken as an invitation, and she would follow inside, closing the door behind her carefully. Placing her shoes at the front of the house beside the Sixth's, she took notice of how much larger his sandals were than her's. Did her parents ever notice how massive his footsteps were when they walked a road behind him? Did they feel the massive weight of respect and admiring that she felt for their sensei? This man had a legend that was now read to them in their history books. Did they know of his past before then? After all, she had read his name was known well throughout the shinobi world as Kakashi of the Sharingan, the copycat ninja." She only wished she could have seen him in action. The best she could do was see him lounging around on his sofa, with arms danging from the top, with his head tilted back as though he was asleep. Of course, she knew he wasn't.

Once she properly entered the room, not merely peeking through the corner, she stood before the man.

Kakashi would tilt his head forward again, back at level with Sarada as he leant towards her. It was clear she had something she wanted to say, though he didn't have to actually encourage her to say it, as he would have had to with Sakura or Sasuke.

"I made a mistake, honorable Lord Sixth! I'm deeply sorry for having destroyed your home." The bow given was low, though not enough that she would be better off dropping to her knees on the floor. "I will do whatever it takes to repay you for what I've done."

Kakashi dismissed the apology with simply a wave of his hand. "Oh, I know. I already had something in mind for you to do."

"What will you have me do?" The voice came with a tinge of concern. What would he have her do, she wondered to herself. Would she have to do some very difficult mission? Or maybe he'd have her do something humiliating as payback! Sarada would shake her head at the ideas. No, it all sounded like too much effort with someone with eyes like his. It was going to be something extremely mundane.

Kakashi's voice seemed to cheer up in an instant. "Well, I'm glad you asked." It was his cue to stand up and walk out of the room. There were a few soft sounds of glasses clinking and boxes being rearranged before he'd return, broom and dustpan in hand. "You'll be doing a little spring cleaning."

 _'How did I know,'_ she thought, softly groaning in protest before the items were placed in her hand. It was almost too predictable, this man. Did he ever do anything exciting in his life?

"Well then, best get to it. There's a lot of reading I have to catch up with." Picking up a small lavender book with a red cross mark on one side and a small chessboard on the other, he only looked away from it when he noticed that Sarada didn't move. "Aren't you going to start cleaning?"

A bead of sweat dripped down Sarada's face, her eyes not visible through the glare from her glasses. "You...that's make out paradigm, isn't it?"

"Hm?" Kakashi seemed to take sudden interest in the young one. He looked quizzically towards her before glancing towards the cover of the book. "How do you know?"

"Mama..." Sarada remembered the small bookshelf in the study. It held an array of dry reading textbooks on fluvial illnesses and rare medical conditions found in arid and tropical environments separately. Each one had been thicker and less intelligible than the last. "I was looking for my headband after we came back from saying good-bye to papa."

. . .

"Ehh, Make out paradise?" The medical books from the shelf had been strewn about on the floor, revealing the set of books arranged by shade and color spectrum that were neatly tucked behind. Before she could actually open the small orange book however, it was quickly snatched out of her hand.

"Sarada," Sakura would call loudly. It sounded almost as though she was overcompensating. "Who told you you could go through my books and throw them all over the floor like that?"

The child was quick to respond. "No one! I bumped into it while I was running around trying to find my forehead protector! I wanted to show it to dad before he left but-" Catching glimpse of the back cover, her eyes were immediately drawn to the red marking. It was a book for _adults only_. "Is that a romance novel?"

The mother was quickly shoving everything back into place, tying to cover up the existance of the books by completely eliminating them from view. The boring texts covered the spines, covers and tops of this set. "What?! Of course not! They were a gift from the Lord Seventh last year! I haven't read them yet but-"

Sarada's voice fell flat. "The Lord Seventh, huh?" There was a brief pause. The idea was ridiculous, really. The Seventh Hokage was too pure and righteous for things like this! "I can only imagine what kind of stuff that book has in it. Actually...no, I don't want to do that." She'd slowly stand up from the floor and start walking past her mother, towards the door.

The red-faced woman tried very hard to keep some of her pride, and put up an angry fist at the other. "H-Hey...Don't walk away from me! Shannaro, look at me while I'm talking to you!"

Almost instantly, she felt all her respect for her mother was gone. "Sorry, mama. You _are_ dirty."

"SARADA!"

. . .

"Poor Sakura." Holding back laughter was easy when the embarrassment felt heavier at the pit of his stomach. _'I suppose she had to do something while Sasuke was away...'_ The silence that followed was only slightly awkward, as the two of them seemed to be feeling the same sort of discomfort. Quickly shaking off the topic, he clasped his hands together. "As much as I would love to continue this topic, I think maybe you should get to cleaning. Your parents will most likely want you back by dinnertime, right?" His attention was quickly ripped away from the conversation and directly poured into the book infront of him.

Sarada heaved a heavy breath before kneeling down and beginning to broom small piles off dirt and dust off the floor. The fact that Kakashi lifted his feet onto the table irritated her slightly. This was going to take _forever._

Or at least, it felt that way.

There was no time that she had constantly kept looking at her watch than when she started brooming the floor. With as small as both the pan and the broom had been, it was agonizingly tedious to just finish the first floor. The task continued as she trailed her cleaning out of the living area and towards the hall. Each individual room on her way up the stairs was taken care of before going to the next.

As she worked in each room, she also made sure to dust if she could, and straighten out everything that didn't seem to be in place. It wasn't something that was specifically asked of her, but considering that she was doing this as an apology to the man, it was definitely worth going the extra mile. Still, she found herself wondering more about him as she would fold clothes from the floor and straighten out the knick-knacks on his shelf. Why had he lived in such a small home before? Was it likely that he wasn't home a lot as a shinobi? Her father had been gone for nearly a decade, and so it was a possibility in her mind. Perhaps when a ninja gets sent on many important missions, they simply don't have need or time for a spacious home. Sarada's many guesses listed off under her breath as she'd take herself up to the second floor.

There were only two rooms at this point, one of them being an already sparkling clean bathroom, and a second door, that seemed to be blocked with a chair. Quietly moving it out of the way, she made her way inside, only to find herself in literally the most cluttered up room in the house. Books and documents were all over the floor haphazardly. Boxes were stacked and unopened in front of the other doors within the room and the floor itself, making it difficult to navigate without tripping. The dust was so thick that the rays blocked by a closed curtain was still made the air visible. Sarada sneezed upon entering, but did not take either of the cleaning utensils in with her.

Instead, the young Uchiha couldn't help her more adventurous side and found herself rumaging through the many things within. It wasn't snooping if she was organizing things as well, right? She took great care to not actually read through documents, but instead spent far too long looking through any photos that she might have found. "Lord Sixth's gone to so many interesting places..." There were lands in the photographs that she'd never be able to describe in words! Buildings sitting among the clouds, deserts with canyons so deep that they reached molten lava, snowy landscapes with trees so stiffly in place that the man in the photo had was a full limb with ease! With interesting images like that, it wasn't long before she would intently begin looking for his photo albums, which were surely found as the sole book on a shelf beside the entrance. Unlike most of the other things in the room, there was no filth or dust on the book, but instead a lot of wear and tear within.

The photos ranged from age, starting seemingly with the Hokage as a child in his team photo. Sarada would widen her eyes as she saw the fourth standing over a young Kakashi and two other children. Were all the Hokages related like this? Could her chances of becoming Hokage increase if Konohamaru became Hokage at some point? "I guess that's worth investigating," she murmured to herself before flipping through pages. There were few other photos of the man as a child, though suddenly there would be many of him as a young man. There were then even more of those mysterious other lands that had captured her imagination. What an interesting life that the Sixth had lead!

Once she had reached a particular page, she had stopped. It was a photo of the original Team Seven. The Seventh glared at her father while he would simply stare off into the general direction of the camera. He wasn't focused on it, and wasn't into the group shot at all. Predictably, her mother was the complete opposite, sporting a rather cute pose inbetween the other two genin whilst Kakashi hand one hand on either of the boys' heads, seemingly expecting their antics as it were. It perfectly captured everything that her mother had ever told her about her former team, and at the same time somehow made certain things the Seventh told her seem less than truthful. "Coolest kid in class, huh?" Those were bitter blues if she'd ever recognized them. In a way, it made her appreciate her father more than before.

Strangely, it was the _only_ picture of her father as a child. All those that came after that particular photograph only had Sakura and Naruto, all taken seemingly on the same day. Naruto stood by the gate with a group of four other shinobi around the boy's age. Only one of them actually wore a flak jacket. Sakura also posed for the photo, though it was difficult to focus on her face. There was something about it that seemed...lost. The smile she would put on besides the others was rather hollow. She felt her eyelids tighten and eyebrows knit themselves tightly together with concern. "This was..." He was gone at this point, and she knew it. _'Figures,'_ she thought to herself. _'When hasn't Papa not been in the village?!'_ The reminder that the book was not hers was the only thing that kept her from throwing it against the wall. Instead, she would flip through more pages, now seeing a more grown up Team Seven, with new people. Strangely, one of the new men looked particularly familiar. "...Inojin?" That was his dad, wasn't it? Her mom always did say that there was more than one Team Seven.

Not dwelling much on it, she would look quickly through the rest of the photos, until suddenly, her father would show up again, this time, with no arm. The Seventh seemed to be missing one as well. Sakura was sat between the two, her arms folded as Kakashi placed now one hand on one shoulder of the two men. The clouds were grey, and the air seemed still thick with smoke. There was visible concern on her expression at this. "This is...after the war..."

She couldn't dwell on it too much, as the photo beside the post war one immediately caught her attention.

It was yet another one with her father, but unlike the others, it only had him, her mother and Kakashi between the two in his Hokage attire. Though the man in the middle seemed as though there was joy to be found everywhere, Sakura and Sasuke seemed to think otherwise. The pink-haired Kunoichi wore the standard Konoha uniform as though she hastily had dressed herself at the last moment. The flak jacket remained open, with shirt riding high and pants hanging low on her hips. Her hair was clung to her face, slightly damp, with strands standing on their ends. With one end, she almost looked to be trying to fix this disheveled in appearance. On the other side, her dad wore a massive coffee colored poncho that covered most of his body. She could barely make out the tips of his knuckles helping him clutch to a scarf. His hair seemed a mess too, but at the same time, it seemed to be quite a flattering look on him. The only thing that would actually be _wrong_ with the way he stood before the camera is that he clearly had absolutely no desire to be there.

"Well, I'm guessing you found my album book," a voice behind her said with amusement. It was enough to have Sarada fling the book upwards as she jolted from shock. The man behind her quickly caught the book and opened it back to the page she was on. "

Sarada spun on her heel and stopped her foot down, arms locked straight with her fists at the end of them. "You scared me!"

Calmly, the Sixth pointed to her. "And you were snooping."

She gulped.

His eyes fell to the photo that she had been looking at just a moment ago. He paused slightly before speaking. "Ah, well, I do suppose its a very...interesting photograph of your parents. Very candid. There wasn't much choice in the matter." He leaned back against the now empty bookshelf with legs crossed and arms folded. "I can tell you what happened on that day, but in return, you'll need to accompany me somewhere I need to be. Shouldn't take too long."

Without thinking twice about it, she agreed. In truth, it was much better than having to clean the entirety of this backroom.

"Okay then," Kakashi's smile was clear beneath it's mask, and he'd close his eyes as he did so. "Lets take a walk."

* * *

Sakura walked the streets alone, as she had every night, taking in a silence that most people would find uncomfortable. Indeed, she herself had chills as she did this every night, but somehow, she felt safer here than she had anywhere else. The memories of a past she could not recall could not haunt her dreams, but it gripped at her heart, and she prayed for the spirits of those cut down to find peace. They were there, she knew. Her presence surely bothered them, for she was no Uchiha- merely a guest welcomed by the last of their kind.

Her hand unconsciously placed itself over her chest. Perhaps one day, they would accept her if he would too.

Since those days, many things had changed, though in her heart, her feelings were still the same. What had one been a child's crush quickly had developed into an eternal love that endlessly hounded her.

She could still remember the days where she felt she would betray nations for him, and quite literally almost would. She thought to herself, perhaps she became less foolish about her feelings towards him. She had been ready to kill him for the sake of her country, after all. Of course, she couldn't truly go through with it and it nearly cost her her life.

 _'Yes,'_ she agreed with herself in thought. Less foolish, but no more blinded than when she was a genin. Maybe, she was even more blinded than before.

Two years, she has lived in the Uchiha compound, and for those two years, without fail, she thought of him as she walked. She wondered how it must have felt to lose everything in a single night. Quickly, she was reminded of her own words.

_"I have family and friends. But...If you leave, for me...To me, it's the same thing as being alone!"_

She spoke without even noticing. "How foolish of me." Had she ever been truly alone in the world? Perhaps she was, but who could say? If she was alone, it was her own fault, for there was a world now that knew her name, and a village of people that depended on her. "I can't help it, can I? These feelings..." Completely overtaken by her thoughts, she didn't even notice she arrived home until she'd see the massive white circles on the building before her. It was the only way to distinguish her place from all the others, which had the emblem of the red and white paper fan thrown literally on every home and banner within the district.

Looking back towards the largest flag of them all, the wind made the clan's symbol fly high. It waved for a proud clan that would not be able to see the recovery of the village they had lived in. Of course, she knew that not all hope was lost. At least not yet.

"Sasuke..." His name alone made her heart tremble with delight, but without him there, all she had were memories of a past they had together. Perhaps for now, that was enough, as it had always been.

She walked into her new home and threw off her sandals haphazardly. It was one of the perks of living alone. Quickly, she made her way to the kitchen and picked up a spoon, along with a small, previously opened tub of ice cream. To keep any more contemplation at bay, she shoved a spoonful into her mouth before placing both the container and it's spoon back into the fridge. The sweetness was a comfort that made it easier to forget, but as she went up the stairs, she could feel a sudden change.

Quickly, the chills returned, and Sakura found herself clutching at herself by the shoulders. Why was she becoming so overwhelmed? This feeling...it was a presence that made her feel small and weak. She fought against it, and it was then that she noticed, that she was sensing a familiar chakra. Bolting for the room, she burst right in with a slam of the door against the wall, only to end up simply standing there.

Inside, _he_ was there, standing alone in the clothes of a vagabond.

"Sasuke..." His name escaped her lips without thinking, and suddenly, the entire world disappeared around her. It could have been her room, or the training grounds, or even the damned moon. She felt tears welling up as she watched him simply stare right back at her. A breeze came from the window, revealing a dark wild eye from him, as the other remained closed.

"Sakura," he said her name softly, almost as though he was calling her over. Or perhaps that was how she wanted to interpret it. Either way, it was she that closed the gap between them, literally lunging for him and pulling him into an embrace. While her face and body were pressed against him, he did not respond, either physically nor verbally. Instead, he merely watched as his cloak began getting wet with tears. Her body shook against him. It was the first time he could actually _feel_ the effect he had on her, physically.

Her emotions ran through her like heavy waves in a storm on the high seas. They rocked her violently, leaving her little energy to talk, or stand, and so she held onto him for support.

Silently, the two shared this silence, a reunion promised in the destruction of their village, two years ago.

A rare occurrence, he broke their silence first. "Why are you still here?" It was not a question she was probably expecting, but it was one he wanted an answer to. "All veterans of the war receive a stipend, and I assume you still do missions beyond that. By now, I would have imagined you'd have enough money to be on your own two feet."

Sakura to this, looked up, still holding onto him, before placing the side of her face against his chest.

"Well, Lady Tsunade, she's got a bit of a gambling streak in her..."

. . .

"Honestly, Sakura, how long are you expecting to wait for this Uchiha?" Her master had little patience left, her arms folded and foot tapping. Shizune behind her lugged most of the heavy luggage. A piglet had several smaller packages tied to it's back. "You should come with us and travel around. You know, see the world you fought hard for...take some time off."

Sakura bowed deeply, her eyes shut and tone respectful. "Wish as I might, I should probably stay in the village. We're still not done with reconstruction! I just helped found a hospital and Ino needs me to help-"

The blonde was having none of it. "Oh, cut the crap. It's plain as day why you don't wan't to go." She glanced off to the side with contempt, seemingly dismissive towards the idea of the man. "Seriously, Sakura, I just don't know what you see in a man like that. In the end, he may have allied with us, but..." Her gaze returned to her.

"Does that mean he'll return to you?" There was slight amusement at the idea. "I highly doubt it. Now, if you want to have some _real_ fun, you'll pack your bags and meet with us at the gates! You're even of age now to gamble, so I can teach you the art of that too!"

Sakura shook her head violently at this and bowed even deeper. "I really don't think that's such a good idea!"

The sannin quirked her eyebrow at her, a slight irritation present in her eyes. She watched her student as she remained bowed to her, taking notice that her eyes were hidden by the shadows and her hair. Still, there was a gentle sound of dripping, as drops were now present on the floor. In the end, she couldn't do anything but sigh.

"If you say so. First Shizune wants to stay and now you. At least _she's_ willing to have a little vacation before getting to her duties again." She'd turn around at this point begin walking away, a cue that both her ninken and assistant took to hurriedly follow along. However, she suddenly stopped, causing the two behind her to nearly drop their things as they stopped just short of their master. "Oh...and one more thing."

Sakura looked up to then, straightening out again.

Tsunade took this moment to turn around and walk towards her again, palm up and out. "Give me all your money."

"Huh?!"

She placed her hands on her hips and frowned slightly. "Did I stutter? Look, you're barely going to even use it- you're still living with your parents! You don't _have_ any living expenses!" The tone of accusation in her voice was thick, and more than slightly hurtful.

The pink-haired woman put a fist up defensively, her own voice raising only slightly. "What are you talking about, I _am_ living on my own! I'm living in the Uchiha compound all by myself!"

This took the elder aback, to the point where she even took a step backwards. She'd halfway expected more out of her than that. "Wait, what, seriously? You're living in _his_ house?"

She retreated at this quickly and put up both hands with palms oven, waving side to side. "Well, not _his_ house specifically! Just... _a_ house. The first one I could get the keys to with his permission."

"That's good, then you can ask _him_ for a little money for your living expenses! I'm sure he's got money if he can afford to travel so much! Consider this a favor to the person that's helped you become what you are today. Or a loan. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

Sakura pursed her lips at this, and shoved her hands into her coat. Her head hung low. "I guess I don't have much choice, do I?"

. . .

At this point, Sasuke slowly begun prying Sakura away from him. First with a hand on her shoulder slowly pushing back. She quickly took notice and let go on her own, allowing him to place distance between them. His left eye was still closed, but the one that was opened seemed more serious now. "Why didn't you leave with your parents?" His tone remained stern and unmoving.

"Sasuke...I'm going to be twenty years old soon. Everyone's moved out of their parent's places a long while ago...heck, Naruto and Hinata got _married._ They're going to have a baby in seven months! I-..." She bit her lip to hold back even more tears. Memories of a foolish girl chasing after a criminal flooded her mind. It was the story of her life because _she_ chose it. And what did she have to show for it? Nothing. Wiping away her tears, she tried to keep her voice even enough to speak. "It's unbecoming of a kunoichi to rely on her parents at an age like this. These are supposed to be the years of my life where I feel most free, and yet..."

The snow began outside as the wind would still itself. The silence was deafening, to the point that when he heard her words, he felt they'd shatter him.

"I'm trapped because I'll always wait for you, Sasuke!"

Sasuke simply stared out to her, not allowing mere words to faze him like they would Naruto.

"If my parents had their way, I'd be retired, living a civilian's life...have a husband that's here for me. That's not the sort of life I want, Sasuke. I put my blood, sweat, and tears into this village...into my life as a kunoichi! My parents would have me give that up if I let them."

Sasuke's eye widened, and an audible reaction was heard.

"The war...it changed a lot of things. People are different now...they've changed as well."

"People don't change," Sasuke found himself repeating this like a mantra.

Sakura furrowed her brows at this and contemplated how much Sasuke _hasn't_ changed at all. He was still as stubborn as when he was a child.

"Does Naruto know you're home?"

"Naruto knows I'm not going to stay home."

"Huh?"

"I have somethings that I still need to take care of. I also made you a promise, that the next time we met, I would take you with me." The excuse was too convinient. It almost seemed as though he was _relieved_ as he spoke.

Sakura's expression brightened up. "Really?" The smile continued to linger for a little while longer, but suddenly she looked down as her expression became bitter. "It's strange...how you just show up here unannounced and ask me to leave with you. I knew it would happen but...I suppose there's a reason why I..."

His eyes slid shut as he felt her pressing her head more against his chest. He could now feel the rhythm in his chest, slow but powerful. She knew.

"You don't know how many years I've dreamt about this...you taking me away. Us traveling together alone. It almost seems like it's a dream to me, you know? Something little girls dream of about the boys they like. I guess that makes me silly, right?"

Sasuke's eyes opened halfway as he watched her, returning no affection nor movement with any of his own. "Dreams are things children have. You should let go of such childish things." He saw her as she looked up to him, her steps slowly moving away from their close distance. Now able to move his own, he removed his scarf and pulled down the cloak just enough so that his face was visible. Could she not see what he was? What she was in love with? "I made a promise to return and take you along. Of what it is, you should know I have my reasons. I don't waste my time with people that do not benefit me."

"I see..." Her own eyes became half lidded, looking down through the corner, towards the ground. He knew what she felt.

Sasuke doesn't say anything at this, but it's clear that he isn't particularly pleased about this. He is unsure about whether it was a waste of time, or a very long term goal. Reaches the conclusion that Sakura's abillity to wait is an admirable trait, and that most others would have given up.

"Still...there's some things I need to take care of first. You know, tie up loose ends and the like."

There was no response from the brunette.

She took the silence as contempt. "You think I can just drop everything at once, right? I have a lot of responsibilities now, you know! I'm a medical-nin! I've founded hospitals, clinics, _and_ I'm a member of the medic corps! There's so much I need to do...so many people that rely on me! I-"

Sasuke cut her speech short. "I don't care," he told her with a loudness he'd not exhibited throughout the entire meeting. He then paused, and looked to her. The cuts he made were as real as any wound, and yet he felt that she simply forced his hand. "You waste your time with so many unnecessary words. Long before now, you said you would help me fulfill my ambitions. This is your chance to prove it. To prove to me how solid your words are."

Looking up at him, she felt an overwhelming seriousness overcome her. It sounded so similar to the last time.

"This time, I mean it. Do whatever you need to do." He had taken notice of her expression, and remembered it too. He had been different back then and hoped that she understood that with no words required from his part. Of course, she didn't truly, and he returned a concerned gaze with his own, much calmer eyes. The rinnengan opened once more. There was not a single tomoe within it. "You have until midnight tomorrow. I will wait at the village gates in the evening."

As he walked past her and to the door, Sakura watched, until she suddenly turned to him and spoke up. Walking closer, she held him by the edges of the cloak. "Do you have things you need to take care of here? Why tomorrow night?"

"No queustions." He pulled at his coat forcefully and started again, making it to the entrance of the room. Looking off to the right side, he placed his hand against the wall beside the frame and traced part of a curve. Closing his eyes, he completed the circle, running it over against the surface several times lightly.

"Is there something wrong?"

Upon hearing Sakura's voice he paused, turning his head so that he could side glance her, as his hand would then trace the symbol of his clan. "Change back the crest, when you leave tomorrow."

She blinked at this, but the instant that she opened her eyes again, he was gone, with only a photoframe on the floor in place of where he had once stood. Stepping closer to pick it up from the floor, she saw herself as well as the rest of Team Seven. Her eyes were instinctively drawn to the boy with eyes as pitch black as his soul had been. Sasuke was a man now, and his eyes reflected something that had not been there before.

Placing the frame over her chest, she smiled to herself. "You have changed too, haven't you, Sasuke?" She embraced it fully, and let her eyelids slide shut.

"Thank you."

Sasuke opened the door leading outside, only to stop at the sight of _him_. There was no reason for this man to be, and so the Uchiha had no problem trying to find out why. "What are you doing here?" It was not a very warm tone.

Kakashi wordlessly pulled out his phone. Pressing a button at random, the screen flashed brightly before showing the photo of a particular orange wearing ninja.

To this, Sasuke narrowed his eyes. He cursed that damn loser in his mind. Phones were perhaps the most irritating invention that's been brought into the leaf village.

Kakashi closed his eyes, seemingly smiling behind his mask. "My, my...how you've grown up. Well, grown into your own age, at least."

The Uchiha male was having none of this. "What are you talking about?"

There was silence as the grey haired man found himself looking up at the window where Sakura's room should have been. He felt the glare from the other radiating on the side of his face. Still, he didn't speak until the curtains drew shut. "Why don't you walk with me? You know, for old time's sake."

This was not something that the other wanted to do. Very predictably, he would stay quiet at the offer, but the moment that Kakashi begun to actually walk, he followed.

His former sensei's tone was more than casual. "Sakura has matured into a woman, hasn't she?"

"Stop, I don't want to hear this," he commanded.

To this, Kakashi placed hands on his waists and leaned the slightest bit forward. "But you will...if you want me to actually _let_ Sakura leave the village."

Sasuke looked to Kakashi at that moment, his eyes slightly wider than usual. There was a growing tension now.

"I'm the Sixth Hokage, so if I decide that I don't want my jonin running off with unsanctioned ninja, it's my right," he reminded him, pointing towards his own face in the massive mountain behind them using his thumb. The tone seemed almost playful, as though the other was still the twelve year old genin he used to be.

Without much choice, Sasuke relented. "Fine, what do you need to say?"

"I know you have ulterior motives for taking Sakura with you."

Sasuke continued to watch Kakashi but said nothing, his reaction slowly returning to a glare.

"You've been avoiding the village for nearly two years. Sightings of you have been numerous by Anbu agents, but once you reached the five mile perimeter, you'd just turn back." Looking up to the moon, he remembered their reunion. All three seconds of it. "Had it not been for the moon incident, you might not have come back at all."

"What are you trying to say here?"

"Sakura has been one of the most important people to the recovery of the village. She's built hospitals here, clinics for children, and veterans of the war. All on her own coin as well. Any pension that she may have had for her efforts in the war immediately went into rebuilding this place. She's saved countless lives because of that." Kakashi went back to looking towards the other. He seemed serious now, and pulled his headband up to reveal yet another average eye. "I need to know what you plan to do with her.

Sasuke seemingly didn't hear the question, as he had narrowed his eyes and remembered her words to him about Tsunade.

"Sakura," he whispered under his breath. It was so like her to not have him worry. The fact that he believed her meant that she was getting better at it. He looked at his own hand before balling it up into a fist. His eyes were hidden by the shadows of the scarf he wore on his head.

It seemed as though at this moment, Kakashi would realize what the other was thinking. His journey, it wasn't done in his eyes, it seemed. "What you're doing...it's an admirable goal," the Hokage began. "It's also foolish. No matter how strong you are...you can't save everyone nor with just your own power. Additionally, becoming headstrong or reckless about it won't help."

Sasuke stayed silent.

"You can atone for yourself and bring peace just as easily in the village. You don't need to subject yourself to this exile of yours."

"I know all that."

"So why do you do it?"

"Naruto..." He shut his eyes. "That loser is going to become Hokage one day. He will realize his true potential here, but I..." He felt the burning in his left hand again, urging him to look but when he did, he found the pain was gone. In it's place, he felt the clenching of a fist that did not exist. "I need to understand who I am. I can no longer be the avenger I used to be. That part of my life is over."

_"What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to restore my clan and kill...a certain someone."_

"I was a foolish child who didn't understand what he was getting into. In the end, I wonder if it was worth it all. I'm not worthy of the place at their side that they have offered."

Kakashi remembered that foolish boy as well.

_"I've seen my share of troubles. You're not the only one who knows what it's like to lose somebody...s_ _till, we're not all that bad off. At least you and I have been lucky enough to find new comrades to help fill the void._ _"_

He found himself shutting his eyes, being taken back to the fateful day that Team Seven was born. Since those days, his eyes have since changed. Where there was once a boy, there was a man who had seen enough with blinded vision. "You've opened your eyes again...it's been a long time. There's a path for you in the light, you know. It isn't as far away as you'd like to think."

_"_ _Sasuke, you're more than just your clan, you're more than just hatred. Look deep inside your heart once more._ _"_

The Uchiha nodded slowly. He knew what his former sensei was implying by this. "That's why I need to see the world and atone. Its the only way to bury the past properly and begin walking my new path towards a better world."

"Here is that path, Sasuke. This is where _you're_ needed most. Why don't you just-"

Once again, Sasuke would nod at this. "I will. One day." It was not a forlorn dream of a future that would not be his. He had been saved, but did not forget the damage he'd wrought. How could he live such a life within the village without first making right as much as he could? His life had been forfeit so many times over...the least he could do was _one_ service to the world.

"Why did you come back now?"

"I came for Sakura," he said curtly.

"Why?"

When he shut his eyes, he remembered the dream. It had filled his mind with a thick fog from which he couldn't be released...not until he opened his eyes again. She was there, a woman with power he had never imagined she would have. She had proven her worth as a shinobi, and yet her compassion did not waver. He could remember another time he had demanded for her to do this...demanded her to prove her loyalty. He almost would have...

_"Well, can't you handle this Sakura?" He had watched her stand over Karin with a kunai. She was near death, breathing shallowly, watching the kunai tremble in Sakura's hand. He could see it in the way she stood there, that whatever she had come to do, she wouldn't be able to go through with it. The currents in his hand sparked loudly as he prepared for his own kill. Neither of them could do anything for him now._

Sasuke clenched his remaining hand as tight as he could, trying to shake away the memories. His internal struggle was beginning to seep through in his expression. He was rigid now, the roughness behind his cool facade beginning to surface. Still, this did not mean he would show his weakness, only that he would double down, with a certain sharpness appearing in his eyes. "She has always said that she could help in my ambitions. It just so happens that now a time has come where I have need of her."

"I see..."

The look he received was not of a man that believed what he said. There was suspicion in his voice as well, and almost knowingly, he gave the other a smirk. "My words do not have a second meaning as you believe."

"A shinobi's words are always full of double meaning and deception. Not everyone can be as straightfoward as Naruto."

"So it seems." Turning around once more, Sasuke would then walk away. "This conversation is over."


	6. Prolouge Deux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura's thoughts briefly linger between walls of Uchiha history and Sasuke's past.

Sakura was awakened by the light that filtered through the small cracks of the curtains. As her mind slowly shifted between states, her body was unable to move, muscles unwilling to budge even the slightest bit. It almost felt as though she was trapped within her own body, and though a rational mind would wait for the sleep paralysis to wear off, she blamed her body's lag on a particular force that she felt could have even stopped her heart if it wanted to.

"He's back." Sakura replayed that moment in her mind, over and over again. His arrival. Her embrace. How his scent clinged to her even now. It was as though he was lying next to her in bed and if she could just turn her head slightly to the side, she'd see him there. He was that present to her, and yet when she finally was able to turn her head, she found that there was no one there.

Her routine after getting out of bed went as usual: washing herself, brushing her teeth, having a small breakfast,and finally walking around the house for the thousandth time and wondering about it's history. This was certainly not Sasuke's childhood home. Indeed, that place had been destroyed when Pein had invaded all those years ago. What was built over the remnants of that place was it's replica. Exact, yet modernly updated versions of what it would have looked like inside the typical Uchiha home.

It was almost cult like, how many symbols of the clan were painted in the home,and how many banners flew outside denoting the clan of the district. These were either a proud or an arrogant people. Thinking about this, she looked at the symbols that were now in her home— those of her own clan, and the glance that Sasuke had given her. There was such a displeasure to it that she felt guilty of painting over them in the first place. Was it truly wrong in his eyes?"It must have been like I was erasing a part of him from his home when I was only a guest," she concluded to herself. "I only wish you'd tell me how you feel about this...your clan and their history."

He and she both knew the truth of it all. She wondered how it must have felt to realize everything he grew up with and everything his clan believed in was a lie fabricated by someone else with their own purposes. These people spun their story, and perhaps because they were too young, or because these people were older, they believed in their lies. There was no questioning the narrative, and they— all Uchihas, lived and died by these fabricated notions— instructions that would lead them to do what the story maker wanted them to do. For Sasuke, it was to kill his beloved brother, and for the clan as a whole, to destroy the world. This all brought about only more curiosity from Sakura and she could only find herself asking 'Why?'

Why would Sasuke fall for every single one of Itachi's lies?

Why could he not see through these lies when their clan prided themselves on seeing with such powerful eyes?

Why should he even associate himself with such hatred, bloodshed, and deceit after all that occurred?

Why did he?

Sakura pulled the red, white, and black paint from the closet beneath the stairway. Where she saw circles, she knew paper fans had to take their place. Sasuke wanted his home back, and the symbol that he wore, the one that had brought about such reckoning, would be the mark that claimed it.

And perhaps her, along with it.


	7. The Lull Before the Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura starts to tie up loose ends.

 What did it mean to be a man? Not a ninja, but a man?

Sasuke sat at the top of the village, staring down at the place he had once called his home. Looking down, he saw how brilliantly the village glimmered in the dark. However, when he stared up at the sky, he could no longer see the stars that he had been used to seeing as a child. It was strange, the way Konoha continued to tempt him, how the people and the memories he had made constantly came back into his mind.

It was difficult to walk away again. He knew this. That's why he stayed away for so long.

Even though the place looked foreign to him now, he still recognized it as his home. He still longed to live with the people that accepted him- his friends- even if the rest of the world rejected his existence. Still, he knew better than to give into such things. It was a child's action, to run to the comfort of his home. That stage of his life had been over for a decade.

But if that was the case, then what did it mean to be a man?

Was it to always wander, without home, with only purpose?

Was it to live in self exile, relenting one's humanity in order to serve the world as a tool of good?

There was no good answer to him, nothing that would satisfy his heart, nor put his mind to rest.

Looking once more to the cityscape, his eyes fell upon the only dark spot in the village: the Uchiha compound. His former home stood where it always had, and upon fixating his sight on it, his mind became flooded with thoughts, all too loud to discern. They washed away his concentration, filling him with feelings that he could not describe with words. His only hand clenched, tension growing within him.

Tomorrow, he would bring Sakura with him out of the village, no longer to travel the world alone. Strangely, it was a thought that brought him no comfort, but instead raised a single question, that slowly cloaked him in unease.

Would her presence dilute his purpose?

He wondered whether she would hold him back, or change his goals through her well meaning words and actions. Sasuke felt a twinge of nervousness thinking that Sakura would impede upon his progress, and that he would regress to his old self. An impulsive, selfish child that would only claim to protect what he believed was his, whether it was a legacy, or anything else.

He shook his head at the creeping thoughts. How could she? Sakura was by no means any different than she ever was. And people never changed.

By worrying whether or not the person that cared most about him in the world would sabotage him, he proved to himself that he too had never changed.

He was a long way from being a man.

That afternoon, Sakura stood in Kakashi's office with papers detailing her reasons for departure. Kakashi, who pulled them closer to him, inspected the papers carefully before quickly turning his head towards the window. A cool breeze blew in unexpectedly, which only raised the Hokage's brows.

"What was that?"

"I think you have your window open," she pointed out quietly. "It's not particularly windy today, but the breeze is still mildly pleasant, considering how hot it's been as of late. Don't you agree?"

"Oh, yes of course." Kakashi responded with half his attention, the other half of him being focused on the window. When nothing happened after a few seconds, he slowly turned back to Sakura. "So what were you talking about again?"

Stepping a bit closer to Kakashi's desk, she looked down to him. "The papers and terms of my leave," she said.

Dull, bored eyes flicked between the papers and the woman. He did not mean to look as though he was uninterested, though the idea of paperwork didn't bode well in his mind- even if it was for a person important to him. "Ah yes, you want to leave the village to join Sasuke. I'd admit it sounds romantic if it weren't for the fact that your disappearance would turn Konoha on it's head."

Sakura knit her eyebrows together with concern, too antsy to sit down in the chair before Kakashi. Her foot tapped on the floor as she folded her arms together, shrinking herself slightly at what had just been pointed out. "I know Kakashi-sensei...but I may never get another chance to do something like this."

"You're the heart of Konoha's entire healthcare system. You've created, renewed, and inspired a new age in which people that otherwise could not be saved, now have a chance. You can't expect for me to completely accept this without any qualms whatsoever. Not to mention that technically, Sasuke is still a genin. Even more so, because he left the village and was pardoned, he's been stripped of even that much rank. As far as the village is concerned, he's a civilian."

"I know that! But maybe you could make an exception."

"Normally the village won't allow for jonin to just up and leave on a journey...especially with just a civilian. And with only a day's notice...well...it'd just be plain impossible. These things take weeks to process...months even for people like yourself. You just have your hands in too many things to leave like this." He looked at Sakura and then at the papers she signed. She'd completed most of it on her own, which meant that she most likely never went to sleep the night before. There were even plans to transfer ownership of her clinics to high ranking officials within the Medic Corps- along with contracts and contingency plans involving the day to day operations of the facilities.

There was a silence between the two that hung awkwardly for a moment before the Hokage let out a loud, heaving sigh. "Oh, alright," he relented. "I'll let you go."

The surprised gasp of delight was immediately cut short with a raise of the man's hand. She could tell that behind the mask, there was a strangely wry smile. "Of course, you'll need to find people to take up your duties in your stead. You're a senior member at two hospitals and three clinics, as well as a captain in the medic corps. You'll need to get signed forms from your replacements before you decide to go running off."

With deepest of gratitudes, she bowed to him in response. "Thank you Kakashi-sensei."

"Uhm, you know it's Lord Hokage or Lord Sixth now." He pointed out in a mildly uncomfortable tone. It was something he had to repeat to her often, and yet neither she nor Naruto ever learned. Then again, he never had either, when his own sensei was leader. "I know Tsunade let you call her something else, but you need to have respect for the title. Or at least that's what the council keeps telling me to tell you." His tone was still light.

"O-Oh, of course. Thank you, Lord Hokage." She only raised her head up at this moment, meeting eyes with her sensei. There was a moment of quiet between them that lingered a little longer than it ought to have. As Kakashi knit his eyebrows at her, she turned around, breaking contact first. "I'll bring you everything you need. I promise." And with those words, the woman would quickly hustle out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

Kakashi breathed out heavily, as though all the air in his lungs had escaped at once. His eyelids shut for a moment, his hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose. This complicated matters, despite it being entirely expected. "It's going to be a difficult job to replace her, even with whatever recommendations she makes. If only those two weren't so stubborn." He swiveled in his chair, his head slowly tilting back until he only saw the room spinning in his vision. "It's a shame really. I would have promoted her to Jonin Commander, considering her impressive records. And seeing as Shikamaru doesn't exactly want to take on that job either...damn. A true shame." Slowly, his eyes shut as he continued to muse to himself, allowing his verbal thoughts to become mental notes. Names of replacements popped into his head, as he continued to feel his body spinning. Suddenly however, a strange gust blew into the room, forcing the Hokage to stop his spinning by stamping his feet on the ground. His focus went directly to the window. While it continued to blow a gentle breeze, the strange anomaly caused him to narrow his eyes. "Hm..."

It was not long before Sakura found herself on the streets of Konoha, going over names in her mind. She methodically went over candidates in her mind, wondering how she would approach each one in regards to her plans. It was basically dropping an entire business on each of their laps, and though it was not without it's perks, only someone as tenacious as Sakura could take over her duties. Someone with a will to match her's, even if they would not be as well versed in medicine or the practices of leading entire groups of shinobi. This would not be without it's challenges.

* * *

Sarada tilted her head in curiosity, her eyes transfixed upon the former Hokage. "So what happened next," she questioned with an eager intonation. "Did mom find someone to take over her duties? What did she do?"

Kakashi chuckled with amusement before folding his arms. His eyes closed, as his expression became one of knowing, as though he had expected exactly what would have happened. "What didn't your mother do? Sakura is a driven woman...too driven if you asked the right people. Her work was important, and her devotion, irreplaceable. No one cared of those duties she carried upon her like she did."

"So no one wanted to help her?"

"Oh yes, there were people that came out of the woodwork," he quickly pointed out. "However, they either asked for too much, did not have the right personality for the job, or were entirely under-qualified. The Seventh Hokage, as I distinctly recall, begged Sakura for the position, knowing that I was going to ask her to become the Jonin Commander. It would have been an incredible jump in rank for Naruto at the time, who still held the rank of Genin."

"Wait seriously?! Lord Seventh was still a Genin at nineteen?!"

Kakashi shrugged. "These sort of things can't be helped. The Seventh was absent for the few opportunities there were to partake in the Chunin exams in his youth. The one time he was able prior to the war, he had broken a rule that he claims was not informed of. Those in charge of the exams explained that it was simply common sense. In the end, by the time the chance came around again, he had become so powerful, no one really saw a reason to promote him. Naruto is perhaps the strongest ninja of his or any generation, only rivaled by your father."

There was a strange silence that hung off of those words.

"Is he?"

"Hm? Do you doubt your father is strong?"

She shook his head at him, though her eyes moved from him to the ground in a blink. Her right hand played with the hem of her clothes, feeling the fabric between her fingers. "Nuh-uh. It isn't that," Sarada insisted without explaining further. Yet another silence would roll after that exchange, and her gaze refused to return to the man that walked with her. First she stopped to walk, and he, a few steps after her.

It took Kakashi a moment, but he noticed something. The look in her eye did not reflect fear or concern, but rather feelings left unresolved. A curiosity fed by feelings of unsettled circumstances. There was a hunger which he recognized as the pangs of one that craved to know, that needed to find the truth in something. He had seen that same look in the eyes of his students, each of whom dealt with it in their own way. He had tilted his head back, not turning his entire body to face her. "You don't need to doubt your father in any way. Your father has achieved much in his life, more than his faults, and so he is worthy of your respect, as he is of anyone else's."

"How can you say that so easily, Lord Sixth? You're his sensei but he was gone so often...how can you say this for sure? You can't possibly know him well enough if he's not around!"

"This world would not exist if it weren't for the efforts of him, your mother, and the seventh hokage. Perhaps he was not around, but you can see his influence on the village every day, because you're alive to witness it grow."

Sarada's eyes widened slightly at this.

Kakashi would continue as soon as he caught the change in her look. "That is not even to speak of your birth. You must understand that Sasuke is a man that has never done well habituated in one place. Ever since he departed from here on his first journey, he has never stayed in one place for long. However, he has never been one to abandon his objective. When he sets his mind to something, it is impossible to deter him...even when his most loved ones begs for him to do otherwise. However this is not in spite. He does what he does _because_ he cares and honors those closest to him. The Uchiha clan...the Seventh...and especially you and your mother. For you, he would do anything. The same for Sakura. He has protected this village and the people in it for the people closest to his heart. If it were not for him, we would not be having this conversation."

Somehow this soothed the young genin's nerves. Her shoulders, which had been tense and upright, slackened as she looked back up to Kakashi. She could tell that he was smiling, the form of the mask changing to pronounce the fullness of his cheeks and the shape of his mouth.

"I'm glad I could help clear that up. Anyways, erm...your mother, right? That's where we were in the story? I'll skip the boring stuff and pick up right when she actually found someone that she could trust with her life's work."

* * *

Without doubt, Sakura had found Ino, and it took little convincing to push her into doing her the monumental favor. In fact, it had taken such little time, that in the end, it would devolve into an endless stream of chatter about how everyone had been, the state of the village, as well as the latest boutique to open in the shopping district. Sai, who had been on a date with the blonde woman at the time, sat at the opposite end of the table, staring at the two women as they spoke with a hand on his cheek. His expression was not one of boredom or disbelief, but eternal confusion. It was as though they were speaking a different unintelligible language. It was not as though he couldn't understand the social queues, but what they spoke of seemed like utter nonsense- at least until Ino took notice of it.

"Well, anyways, you should take this paperwork to the hospital and start your last day on the job. You'll need to tell everyone who'll be in charge starting tomorrow morning, right?!"

"Heh, of course. It's not like I'd drop ball."

Ino gave Sakura a smug grin. "Like you haven't already, Miss-I'm-Going-To-Elope-Tonight."

Sakura blushed brightly, putting her hands and waving them rapidly. "H-Hey, it's not like that! Sasuke hasn't asked me to marry him or anything...just to accompany him on his journey."

"Pshhh, like that _isn't_ already a marriage proposal to someone like that. Traveling the world with Sasuke? A girl would kill for that type of chance..."

"Yeah, but I'd hardly call it romantic. I'm sure he's asking me to come for one reason or the other."

"You didn't bother to ask?"

It was at this point that Sai finally spoke up, sitting up straight, and speaking in an almost manner of fact manner. "By this point, I think we'd both know that she'd follow the traitor until the ends of the earth." The comment made Sakura flinch visibly, which normally would elicit an amused smile from Sai. This time, it did not. "It would be like getting blood from a stone, to pull you into a realm of reasoning. You realize you may have no romantic prospects with him, and yet you follow him everywhere. But to what ends?"

Quite suddenly, and without warning, Ino slammed her hand on the table, making Sai jolt. When he fell silent, the blonde woman leaned back into her seat, folding her arms together with a scowl. "Don't be so blunt. Sasuke came back and turned good again, so we really have no idea what his intentions with Sakura are!"

"You have to think back through his history. He helped saved the world, yes...but can you really call him an ally? He hasn't exactly stuck around the village for longer than two weeks at most. And even if he had ulterior motives for Sakura, how far do they extend into true feelings and not simply the feelings of a man that wants to revive his dead clan with a new bloodline? It is often that dying clans revitalize their blood by marrying into prestige or power, of which Sakura has more than Sasuke- politically that is. Much more. Enough to restore the tarnished reputation his clan holds in the eyes of the leaf. Her vested interest in him and their general knowledge of each other simply makes it easier for him to manipulate her, if he so chooses." His tone was incredibly even, and while it betrayed concern, he spoke in the manner that a doctor spoke to his patient of his or her newly discovered illness.

When he stopped speaking, Ino pinched the bridge of her nose. "Not even a little bit of encouragement. That's clearly too difficult for you, is it?"

"We have to be honest. Sakura is abandoning a promising career, as well as all her duties to chase after Sasuke. Of course, I wont deny, it'd be typical of either her or Naruto to completely ignore all the red flags. After all, when you look at someone with rose tinted glasses, all the red flags simply look like flags. How much of the Sasuke she remembers is the Sasuke that currently exists?"

Sakura had been looking away from the two of them for a while. Of course, she was listening. She always was, as attentively as ever, and though her thoughts were not entirely focused on the discussion, they shaped the way she thought, or at least helped remind her of a discussion she had long ago. "Don't worry about it," she finally said. "We've all changed a lot since the war...we've moved on to bigger and better things. Sasuke is no different. People do change...it's not easy, but they do. So you are right, in a way, Sai. The Sasuke that we had known in our teenage years is not the same Sasuke as the one of now...but I'm willing to go out and get to know him just as well as the old one! He _has_ changed. For the better."

"You're making a mistake," he warned. "You should remain, and have him stay instead of leaving. At least for a little while."

"It's my decision to make. He won't stay here...not yet, at least, so I have to go. It's my only chance."

Ino stood up and stepped over to the pink haired kunoichi, pulling her into an embrace. "Good luck out there, okay?" Her tone was that of mild concern, which made Sakura's heart pound a little harder.

Her chest tightened a bit, at the mild betrayal of insecurity in her choice, and spoke her response in an almost whisper. "Yeah..."

Pulling back, Ino patted her shoulders and smiled with determination, which did not betray the emotions that she had felt before. She knew however, that her best friend knew better. "I'm rootin' for you! And don't forget to write back!" The genuine words lifted Sakura's spirit, which in turn elicited a wink from Ino. "And if you need someone to help you with that wedding of yours, you know the place to get your flowers...AND maid of honor!"

"Without a doubt," Sakura responded. "I imagine you'll still want me to swing by in four months for your wedding, right?"

"Of course I want you to come! You're still MY maid of honor! This offer isn't a one way street!"

Sakura laughed quite loudly at this before nodding. "Gotcha. I'll make sure to show up."

"And bring your new boyfriend, alright?"

"He's not-"1

" _Yet,_ " she cut in. "Yet is the key word. Now go on. I want to get back to my _own_ date before I have to go pick up your slack tomorrow!"

"I don't know how I could ever repay you, Ino..."

"Three words. Maid of Honor."

"I still don't understand the concept of a maid of honor..."

"How could you not, Sai?! We've gone over it like, a thousand times! It's one of those new modern things weddings have nowadays! We can talk about it once we get home."

Sakura laughed nervously before waving to the couple. When they waved back, Sakura turned the other way and began to run towards the hospital. With the papers in hand and a speech formulating in her head, she begun to form the words that would use to announce her resignation from the hospital and the medical corps.

While there was little time, she knew that it had to be perfect.


	8. Later On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke walks through an unfamiliar Konoha.

 

"It was a complete disaster," Kakashi noted as he leaned against a tree in the shade. Sarada stood next to him, also leaning against the massive trunk. Her arms were behind her back however, and her eyes were glued to the sky.

"Why?"

"Well, it all began right after the announcement had been made. Your mother had spoken calmly, clearly, and without a single mistake. Simply the perfect speech, or so she says. Everyone took it very well, from what I recall in reports."

"But then why do you say it was a disaster?" Sarada turned towards the former Hokage, who seemed to be smiling beneath his mask.

"Well, there was a little incident that unraveled, not too long after."

* * *

The trip to Konoha was not seen as a moment of celebration. Home did not hold the satisfaction it would have for many wayward vagabonds. His return was a situation that made him anxious and filled his chest with dread. To him, too much had changed. Still, whether or not it would have remained what he remembered would not change what he felt in is heart. Sasuke did not want to be there. He had grown accustomed to being alone— having to care for no one but himself. It was better that way after all, having no one that relied on him...no one to impress or disappoint. To fulfill only the fancies of his heart that gave him satisfaction. To complete his atonement by bringing righteousness into the world the only way he knew how: through backbreaking service, innumerable deeds, and deep reflection. He protected those that needed it most from the shadows, enforcing peace through force. Nonsensical, but Naruto would approve of it, he had convinced himself. Noble, he agreed in thought. Right and true.

With each thought, he ignored his failure.

He ignored the countless people that he killed in the process. The trail of corpses left in his wake. Even as a force of peace, his presence brought about a reckoning. Those that stood in the way were cut down like any other. They feared him, like a god. Even the innocent whom had nothing to fear recognized his shadow, and cowered. All who knew his name remembered that a few short years ago, he had once tried to unite the world through wanton slaughter, and for that reason, Sasuke Uchiha was still a cursed name— even after all he had done. It was difficult to forget, difficult to forgive. At most, people would thank him before banishing him from ever returning.

In his mind, Sasuke believed that he had been doing much better. He killed only for the sake of keeping the peace, so that the world would be better off. Those who deserved it had been warned. Was that not enough? What more could they want? His eyes remained fixed on the skyline as he watched the village from atop the Hokage stone faces. The village bustled in a way he had never seen before. Perhaps it was not enough, he thought to himself. The places that Sasuke visited were small— villages and towns that would sometimes be ravaged by ronin and nukenin. They cared about honor and their homelands. Their lives and the lives of their people. Even the youngest of children understood that the world was one full of carnage…the average civilian didn't care about a vision of peace or whatever the hell it was he was fighting for. Unless it was a peace that allowed them to continue going about their daily lives— some of which included violence amongst themselves— they couldn't give less of a damn about it. What was he doing, Sasuke wondered to himself. Was this his path towards atonement? All he would do for the rest of his days?

That was why he came home. Sasuke knew he had failed. He would never be able to protect the world by going from village to village. The world would always be rife with tragedies among individuals. However, his return was not without purpose.

Sakura was a complex issue he didn't want to delve into, even on a good day. Last he spoke to her in person was years ago, when he had returned her feelings with thanks and a personal sign of affection. Since then, he did not speak to her much, only greeting her and sending his regards in letters that he would address jointly to her and Naruto. It was easier to talk to her when he included Naruto, he had reasoned.

Most of his time had been spent focused on his atonement, which allowed him little time to properly sift through his feelings. Part of it was that he didn't want to. There were many uncomfortable questions that came with unpacking these feelings…things he had no experience with. Doubts and regrets. Confusion and whirlwinds of questions. It was better to focus his mind on things he could handle. At least, until he failed.

It wasn't going to be easy.

Sasuke focused his attention towards the more residential areas of the village, and with sheer speed, he burst forth from the tip of Kakashi's hair on the mountain, to a quiet street, instantaneously. He shut his rinnegan eye after this, giving it some rest s he made his way down the streets. Sakura did not live with her parents anymore. She had her own life, living independently as best as she could manage. Of course, it didn't stop him from standing outside what would have been the location of her old home.

Staring up, he recognized the building. It was structured exactly as it had been back then. The memories, though few of him waiting outside her residence with their blockhead of a teammate flooded into his mind.

_She'd open the door, look down at the two, and their eyes would meet. She'd smile. He'd glance to Naruto. He'd be slobbering all over himself, trying to get her attention._

_"Hey Sakura! You need any help up there?!" The blond would offer his help with the goofiest of grins._

_Looking back to Sakura, he would see her expression sour almost immediately, and she'd fold her arms. "Like I'd need you're help, Naruto! I can handle myself just fine!"_

_"Well, if that's the case, then hurry up. We'll be late."_

Sasuke could almost feel the words escape from his mouth. But they did not. He did not fold his arms like the boy he used to be did. He only stood and remembered them slipping with irritation. He remembered how her eyes would change. The brightness dulled with disappointment, and what was originally a face of annoyance turned into one with absolute disheartened. She coveted his attention, he knew. She hung on his every word, and responded with an undeserved devotion and idolatry. He remembered Sakura would always come up to him, open and inviting.

_"Hey Sasuke, what do you think of my outfit?"_

_"Hmph. You should focus less on getting ready for me and more on preparing for training."_

And yet he pushed her. From the very beginning...especially the very beginning. For her own good, and for his own.

Even later in their careers, when he didn't find her insufferable...when he found his heart concerning for her, he pushed her in a way he could have never done to Naruto. Fragile as she was, he couldn't open himself to what she offered. They were young, and he had the insight to know that it was not love. What she offered was not love back then, but unceasing showers of attention.

It felt like it was love. It was comforting in that way...and if he drank into her invitations...if he would have accepted her into his closed off heart, he would have believed it. He would have accepted it.

He was a child starved for love, but that was not so...it couldn't have been...it was too selfish, even back then. And yet, it was the closest thing he had felt to it since those cherished days of his.

He was a boy without happy stories, who craved nothing more than to smile without effort, and yet he resisted it at every turn.

He resisted with confusion and frustration, and she chased him even more. He pushed again, and she returned to him. Words could not deter her.

He teetered the edge in those vulnerable days. As he attempted to find his place in the world...to accomplish his lofty goals and bring honor to his long gone clan, she offered something he missed terribly. It was hard to resist.

Perhaps had it not been for the events that followed having happened as they did, he would have accepted it.

He did not take away credit from her however. What she offered had not been love back then...but what she held in her heart would bud into a devotion that was unparalleled. She loved him by the end of it all. If it had not been, it became so— He felt it. When they met years ago, eyes to glance and meet, he felt what had once been a warm lick of a flame was now a roaring fire. However she whispered his name, whether with a shudder or with gasp of surprise— of pleasure or fear— he knew that she loved no one more.

Once more, he felt he had no alternative, but to resist.

At the end of it all, Sasuke had nothing he could say to her in regards to their past. There was simply too much that he had to answer for, and so, he spoke of none of it. Instead, he remembered the old days, reminiscing of the life he had in Konoha.

It was difficult to remain distant in mind as he stepped from the antiquated residential streets and into the busier districts. Not only was the architecture different. Not only was the deeply technological city now foreign to him— but the people too seemed to have different attitudes and focuses. It made him pay attention to all of his surroundings

"My girlfriend broke up with me today," he heard someone say as he passed a cafe. "We were together for two and a half years...moved to Konoha together to start a new life. She said she couldn't do it. That she missed her family too much."

"That's rough. Wouldn't even consider email?" the other man asked, just before Sasuke left earshot.

"They don't have computers back in the Hot Water Village."

He continued walking.

"Check out the new album by Ame Taijutsu Generation! It's so sick! I've got Haruka Kanata as my ringtone!"

"Hey, wanna go to the arcades later?"

"I heard Lord Sixth was gonna be training in Training Ground 3 today with the legendary Naruto! We totally have to go and take some pics with them!"

He certainly could not understand the strangely insular world that Konoha had become. People crowded around their technology, partially making it the focus of their lives. Certainly, he couldn't imagine himself living in the village as it was now. Nostalgic as he was, he longed for something that was no longer there.

The sooner he could get out of Konoha, the better.

As soon as Sasuke turned the corner, he would see a group of medical shinobi, all dressed in medical garments rushing into a particularly large building. Surprisingly, there was also a crowd that gathered before it, all either murmuring amongst themselves or taking pictures of the medic ninja that rushed in and out on their cellphones.

The Uchiha stared at the scene for a moment before looking to the sign amove the massive doors. "So this must be the hospital, huh?" Sakura had mentioned that she spearheaded most if not every aspect of the medical community within Konoha, including the founding of the hospital.

Considering that, he'd have expected that she'd have everything under control. Of all the things for her to drop the ball on, he'd doubt it'd be one of the only things he'd consider her an expert at.

Slowly, he stepped up to the crowd, only to begin catching word of everyone's concerns.

"—twenty seven of them though?! That's crazy!"

"Who the hell was in charge of the group?! They ought to be held accountable!"

"Didn't you hear? He was the first one to get hit by the blast. He...didn't make it."

He knit his eyebrows at the ongoing conversations. However, he did not shy away from the crowd, and instead touched the shoulder of a man infront of him, taking video with his phone. The moment he did so, the man turned around quickly and unzoomed the lense on his camera.

"Yeah, guy? What's up?" Suddenly, he focused his attention and camera view on Sasuke's rinnegan eye. "Wicked eye. You a part of the Hyuuga or something?"

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly at the question, but his eyebrows scrunched together with as much surprise as there was confusion. It was only a momentary lapse before his expression returned to neutral again. "What's going on inside the hospital?"

"Apparently there was this group of ninja that were doing some reconnaissance before being ambushed by these ninja from another village. They had explosion based jutsus."

"Explosion based jutsus?" Sasuke's thoughts immediately turned towards a particular clay loving Akatsuki member.

"Yeah! Pretty crazy. Anyways, a bunch of our guys got caught in the blast and they died...most of them anyways. The ones that made it got brought here...twenty seven out of a group of eighty three."

"These are high numbers," Sasuke stated, to which the camera holding man nodded.

"Chyeah...but that's why they got the best of the best in there right now, including Sakura Haruno. She was one of the four that saved the world, you know! Not the top one, but you get what I mean, yeah bro?"

Sasuke stared at the man for a moment before speaking flatly. "Yeah. I know."

"She's pretty hot, you know. That Sakura Haruno. Crazy good bod...smart as all hell...strong as hell too. But all the guys are after her. It's too much trouble getting close, you know?"

"I don't think that sort of thing matters right now."

"Hey, hey, no need to get upset! I'm not tryin' to chase her myself. Too much competition. Too much work. Might as well just get my fun from magazines or something. You know, Playnin or something."

The moment that the man turned around to face the building, Sasuke allowed his rinnegan to start spinning, focusing on a sign at the door. Instantaneously, he switched places with it, allowing him to escape. However, the moment he did so, everyone took notice of him immediately appearing in front of the door and begun to call for him to not enter. He didn't listen, of course, and went straight inside.

Looking around, it was nothing but chaos, with shinobi running this way and that, papers scattered on the floor as some of the people could not even find the time to pick up the documents they let fall. Picking up one of them at random, Sasuke scanned the page.

**ATTENTION ALL PERSONEL:**

**Sakura Haruno will be stepping down from her role as Chief of Medicine and Director of Konoha Hospital and leader of the Medical Ninja Corps. As it is understood, she will be returning, though currently, that time is unknown. For the moment being, it is requested that we operate under the proceedings outlined in Chapter 47 Section 509-41 of the Medical Corps Directive [Leadership During Long Term Missions]. As we transition in this difficult time, we will be asking everyone to send their medical reports to Ino Yamanaka, who will be her replacement for this time.**

**You are invited to come to the employee lounge to partake in the improptu farewell party during your lunch hour. Food and refreshments will be served.**

**Thank you for your attention,**

**Department of Medicine Committee Member**

**Yumi Ayami**

Sasuke looked to the floor and picked up another of the papers, only to see that it was the same announcement. Without being prompted, he begun to pick them all up, only to place them at the front desk where a young woman was sitting, writing furiously onto a form. Looking, up, she almost jumped out of her chair and rolled back, her eyes widened. "You scared me!"

"I need to see Sakura Haruno."

Slowly the woman began to roll back.

"I'm sorry to say that Doctor Haruno is unavailable at the moment. Did you have a prior appointment with her?"

"No, but I am—"

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you see her unless you had a prior appointment. She's very busy at the moment due to the incident that happened with the platoon of shinobi that were ambushed earlier today."

"Sakura mentioned she was leaving on a mission. I'm her mission partner. I just need to speak to her briefly about some logistical issues."

There was a moment of silence between the two before the woman suddenly furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait, you're Sasuke Uchiha, aren't you?!"

Sasuke remained silent.

"Oh my...w-wow...you're one of the four that saved the world! One of the Yonin," she exclaimed. "Sakura talked about you so much!"

"What is a yonin?"

The young woman seemed surprised at the question and pushed up her glasses, seemingly preparing for a speech. "The yonin are the four legendary shinobi that saved the world in the Fourth Great Shinobi War. It consists of Lord Sixth Kakashi Hatake, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and...well...you! Everyone knows your name, but not a lot of people know what you look like. The only photos we have on record for you are from when you were twelve."

"That's because I—"

"We know," she interrupted. "You left the leaf...but you're allied with us again now, right? Maybe not as a fully sanctioned leaf ninja..."

"I suppose someone could accept that as fact."

"In any case, you're here to see Doctor Haruno for the mission, right? I know I'll get in huge trouble for letting you through, but I'm sure it's important, so I'll let you go through. Just stand in front of the camera for me. I need to make you a pass."

Sasuke would obey the request, and stood before the small camera that sat at the front of the desk, beside the stack of papers he put down. With a small whir and a click, the photo was taken, and the woman went to work. It was only after a minute that a badge was created and adorned on a lanyard. "This isn't an all access pass, but it should let you find Sakura, so long as she isn't in the coroner's or any of the underground levels. Try not to use any ninjutsu while you're in here, and allow the doors to close behind you before opening the next, particularly in the maternity wards, isolation areas, and the intensive care unit. Clean your hands with the hand sanitizers that are located throughout the hospital, and if you have any cold symptoms, wear a mask."

Were all women always so chatty? Sasuke resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose, and instead took the lanyard and badge, to put on his neck. "I'll make sure to keep that all in mind."

"Oh and...please give me your poncho." To the demand, she would quickly clarified in a flustered tone, "I-It's for health reasons! It looks very tattered and filthy. We can at least get someone to wash it for you, while you're visiting us. But you can't go inside with it! You could track a lot of germs and bacteria from the outside."

It was understandable, once she explained it, and without a complaint he would oblige the request— even going as far as to take off his head scarf as well. "Please return these to me before I go." Suddenly, a skeletal arm of chakra emerged from the sleeve with a nub of an arm, providing him with a second arm.

"I just said you couldn't use ninjutsu!" She rose up only to see that he was using the arm to tie a Konoha leaf headband on his forehead. It had a slash right across the front, and the moment it was firmly on his head, the arm vanished.

"Wait a minute, you're crippled?"

"People would consider a person missing one of their limbs to be so. I prefer to think of this as one of the conditions of my atonement...for the things I did to leaf, and many other people within and outside of it."

"B-But you're a ninja without an arm! How do you fight?! How do you dress yourself?! That chakra arm you had...if you used it to grab clothing, you'd rip it all apart!"

Sasuke frowned slightly. "This is true. I have a lot of difficulties doing regular tasks, but I manage. You learn to live with these things. It's very easy for the sort of people that work here to coddle those that do not function like regular people, but people learn to adapt to their situations. I have done so, and so you can see that I have faired just fine. Most would quit, but as a ninja, a real ninja, you learn to adapt."

And with that, he would turn and walk towards elevator. As he got in however, the lady would try to rush to the elevator, approaching right as it began to close.

"W-Wait, but I didn't tell you where—"

"I'll find her. Knowing her, I know exactly where she'd be."

Right then, the doors closed.

Referencing the list of floors above the buttons, Sasuke pressed the one that would take him to the sixth floor— the intensive care unit. Sakura was not the sort to allow others to do the most important jobs without her being a part of it. She was too proud to not be at the forefront. Sasuke scoffed at the thought of this however. "She wasn't like this before," he murmured to himself. "And now...you..."

As the elevator opened, he would see that everything was in complete chaos. Men and women ran to and fro, yelling information to each other— acronyms and words that he couldn't even comprehend.

"There's three code blues happening in Rooms 6104, 6125, and 6136! I need code teams to those locations, stat!" A man called this while rushing through the doors with a large cart full of equipment, prompting the man at the desk to immediately repeat the order over the loudspeaker.

Two men were also at the desk, attempting to request help. One dressed in scrubs, while the other was not, both wearing doctor's coats.

"The patient in room 6117 is having a pulmonary embolism, so we redirected the code team in room 6102 to get them stable first," the one in scrubs told the other.

"And who told you to do that?!" he retorted. "The man in 6102 is a high ranking Jounin! The girl in 6117 is merely a new chunin!"

"Doctor Haruno stated that shinobi under 18 and over 60 get treatment first, regardless of rank!

The well dressed man slammed his fist over the desk. "DOCTOR HARUNO IS A FUCKING HACK! ACCORDING TO THE MEDICAL CORPS HANDBOOK—"

At that moment Sasuke cleared his throat loudly, approaching the two. They both turned around, only for their eyes to widen at the sight of him.

"Y-You're Sasuke Uchiha..." The man who had previously been shouting stammered out. "I meant no disrespect to Doctor Haruno, of course. I was just...frustrated is all!"

"I don't care about that, I just need to know where she is."

The other man frowned at the Uchiha. "I'm afraid she's performing surgery right now. Your presence may distract her. Of course, if you go up a floor, you can see her through the observation deck while she works. I deeply suggest that you do not go in until she's finished, though it should not take long. She's already been in there for about five hours. To get to the observation room, just down the hall and to the room that says 'observation deck'. It's right next to the one that says Surgery Room."

"Fair enough. Thanks." He walked past the two men and followed the directions until he'd find himself between the black surgery room and white observation room doors. Slowly he leaned towards the back room, hearing a faint, yet firm voice calling out for tools.

"Please hand me the scalpel, Doctor Osaki."

"Here, Lady Sakura, ma'am..."

"Thank you. And please stop calling me that while I'm on duty. While we save lives, we're peers."

"Of course, Doctor Haruno. Sorry."

"Dilators, please. Doctor Momoashi, please take over for a moment. I need to use the restroom. You know what to do."

"Right away!"

"We're almost done, guys! Good job to everyone— I think he might actually make it!"

There was a small round of applause.

"Once I get back, we'll patch him up and take him back to his room."

"And what are you going to do, Doctor Haruno."

"Well, I'll be taking my lunch, and get back to work. I'm not leaving until everything is settled and under control."

The man waited a moment. As soon as everything went silent, Sasuke stepped through the black doors, only to see an hallway void of people but filled with many doors. Only the one at the end presented a blindingly white light through it's windows. Sasuke approached slowly, closing his rinnegan eye. That had to be where she was, he concluded. He wouldn't go inside, but at the very least, he had to get a closer look, and so he drew nearer...

Until a hand grabbed at his massive collar and pulled him into one of the darkened hallways.

Sasuke's first instinct was to draw his sword as he activated his sharingan, but before it could slash at the person who had caught him, he stopped himself. Sakura's eyes burned with pure fury, jaw tightened as her teeth were squeezing hard against each other.

"Are you crazy?!" She shouted in whisper to him as she let go of him with a slight push.

Sasuke sheathed his sword. "I thought you were attacking me."

"At a hospital?!" Her tone was incredulous. Quickly, she put her hand to her forehead, and pushed all her weight on one leg, her other hand on the waist opposite. "I can't believe you right now. I'm in the middle of performing surgery, if you didn't read the door! Did no one try to stop you?!"

"They actually helped me find you."

"Unbelievable." Sakura sighed in frustration before folding her arms. "You said I had until tonight, and while I would normally be happy to see you, right now is not a good time. I don't know if you've heard—"

"I heard."

"Then why are you here?"

Sasuke paused for a moment, narrowing his eye slightly in thought before sighing. "I wanted to talk to you."

"I can't leave any faster tonight, if that's what you needed to ask."

"That's not it."

"Then what?" Sakura seemed mildly distressed as she met eyes with Sasuke. It lasted for a moment because surprisingly, Sasuke broke contact first.

"Is there anything I can do?"

Sakura paused for a moment, mouth slightly open before tilting her head slightly. "Huh?"

"I want to assist you. The situation you have here is grave. It's clear you may not finish in time for us to leave."

"Is this your way of telling me to hurry up?"

"No, I'd like to protect my interests."

There was another pause, Sakura now allowing her glance to soften. Putting a hand on his shoulder, she hung her head and drew a heavy sigh. "I need all the hands I can get...but I cant have you running around the hospital, giving people the wrong doses and sticking tools you know nothing about into people." Looking up, she met his gaze again. "Alright, you can help, but you have to do exactly as I say, and you can't leave my side for a moment."

He nodded once to this. "Understood."

"Alright then, come with me."

 


	9. Lacuna

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke decides to lend a hand.

 

Sakura had always wanted to see Sasuke naked. It was one of those few fantasies that stemmed from a burning curiosity on her part. The human body was no mystery to her, of course, but Sasuke's was her curio. To see him bare to her was her yearning— and perhaps one of her only carnal wishes. Hands to brush over his chest. To feel every curvature, perfection, and flaw on his person. To pull off all the weight on his body and let it drop to the floor, so that she could gaze upon him. For the man she loved to see her do these things, and let her. It was her desire.

Of course the moment as she saw it was less of a dream and more of a hurried blur of clothes and panic. Sakura had to get Sasuke dressed for the job he volunteered himself for, and as such, she needed to make him look as presentable as possible— for the impressions that he placed on the people she worked with would influence her reputation— and the last thing she needed was to leave the hospital she created with it's staff thinking less than flattering things about her.

And so Sasuke stood in his boxers, holding his clothes in his arm while Sakura hurried to and fro, trying to find anything that would fit the man. The concern wasn't so much his admittedly buff physique, but rather his height, which was far and beyond what the norm for your average medic ninja. Men as tall as Sasuke tended to be fighters, rather than healers, which made finding a uniform all the more difficult.

"Is this necessary? The clothes I was wearing were clean," he pointed out, watching the young woman rummage through the cabinets. "I already washed my hands like you had asked of me."

"Yes Sasuke. In fact, it's pretty important! You wash your clothes in rivers and lakes. You travel through difficult terrains and brave the outside elements. Not to mention, Konoha isn't exactly the shining example of cleanliness. We need you to be sterile in order to work here." Turning around to face him, she held in her arms some dark grey scrubs, as well as a white doctor's coat. Pausing for a moment, she stared at him, looking him over as Sasuke stood there, expectantly.

"Is that what I'll be wearing?"

Sakura took a moment before quickly turning her head up, as to meet the gaze he was giving her. "Huh? Oh, yeah, this is it." She walked over and handed him the uniform whilst taking from him his normal clothes. She made sure to neatly fold them and place them into one of the large lockers. "I'll keep your things with mine, alright? That way no one else can accidentally take your clothes."

Sasuke cocked an eyebrow at this comment, looking to Sakura with mild confusion. Rather than say anything however, he decided that nothing would be a better course of action. He took the moment of silence between them to put on his clothes.

Turning over to him again, she'd scrunch her eyebrows together in a frown as Sasuke struggled to close the doctor's coat with his one hand. The Susanoo arm was much too large to help with such a delicate process. However, the man's concentration on this task was broken when he heard Sakura sigh.

"Let me help you." She approached him, at which point he dropped his arms to his side, to allow her to begin fastening the buttons. Giving a quick glance up at him, she noticed he was starting directly at her. "To be fair, seeing as you're wearing scrubs, it'd look better if you simply kept it unbuttoned. It'll look like you're naked under the coat if you button it all the—"

"Unbutton it then," he interrupted, resulting in a mildly bothered look from Sakura. She signed impatiently and begun to undo the work she had just completed.

"You didn't have to come here to help."

"It was my decision."

"You don't know anything about medical ninjutsu..."

"Then this will be an opportunity to familiarize myself with it."

Sakura shook her head as she tugged on his coat, making sure he looked well dressed. "This isn't something you can just pick up. You could— at best— learn the mystic palm technique with your sharingan eye...but that jutsu is just a tool. And what is a tool without knowledge? It took me years to learn about the human body and how each part worked. About thousands of chemicals, herbs, and medicines, and how each react with one another. How to diagnose a myriad of symptoms with unparalleled accuracy...why a technique will or will not work...this and much more information had to be studied until I knew it better than the back of my hand. Do you really think that you can replicate that knowledge?"

Sasuke stared at Sakura as she spoke, and moved only slightly when she finished issuing her challenge. He shut his eyes momentarily, lowering his head as he did so. "No. What you offer me is irreplaceable," he stated firmly. It was something that surprised Sakura, and the momentary shock made her pause. Looking up, she met eyes with the Uchiha.

"Sasuke..."

"Don't. It's not worth talking about right now." He turned towards the doors leading to the hallway where the two had caught each other before putting his hands on Sakura. He pulled her off of him and stepped away.

Before he completely turned around, Sakura watched the eyes of the man before her turn blood red. "Don't waste your chakra, Sasuke," she warned.

"It's important that I observe things carefully. My sharingan only uses a negligible portion of my chakra pool."

"Alright," she relented before beginning to walk. Quickly, she passed the other and pushed through the doors before taking a sharp left. It was at this point that she heard Sasuke's footsteps behind her.

As the two walked through the doors, Sasuke squinted, letting his eyes adjust to the blinding brightness that was the operation room. The first thing he would notice was the group of men and woman that were looking directly at him. He said nothing, and instead attempted to move towards Sakura as she took her place between two medic nins that stared at the Uchiha.

She put up her hand to stop him before beginning to put on her gloves. "We need space."

Sasuke nodded and folded his arms.

"Watch my assistant. Take the opportunity to learn the tools. You'll be helping me with them today." She then looked to the man opposite of her. "Doctor Osaki, would you mind if our intern stays close to you until we finish?"

"Doctor Haruno?"

"He's actually the man I'll be going on my mission with beginning tomorrow. I want him to familiarize himself with the work we do as medic shinobi. It's a little short notice, but he has the aptitude to learn."

"B-But...this is clearly Sasuke Uchi—"

The woman snapped her gloves at the wrist loudly. "We don't hold prejudice here. He's willing to put in the effort, so for today, he'll be referred to as the new intern."

With a unison of nods between the doctors, they then went back to focusing on the patient, speaking amongst themselves while Sasuke simply stared at them as they worked. He watched as Sakura dug her hand into the open body of the person on the table. She worked in deep concentration, all the while, calmly giving commands and requests, at which points, he made sure to pay special attention.

"Sasuke?"

The man was already looking at her when she picked up her head.

"Please come closer and gently remove the retractors. We're ready to close him up."

The man was hesitant to do anything that would involve messing with the insides of a person. However, at this point, there was no easier job than to remove the tools that held the skin back so that the doctors could work. Sasuke did his best to be delicate, and with all watching him, he managed to do exactly what was asked of him.

Some of the doctors sighed in relief at that moment, which drew ire from Sasuke. Did they think he'd kill the man so easily? The man prided himself on his skills to kill, but that was not his intent. Of course, it wasn't new— for someone to believe all he could do was kill.

Sakura rubbed her cheek with her shoulder, wiping off some sweat. "Phew! That'll do it. Doctor Haruka, please close him up. I knew that's your favorite part."

Sasuke raised a quizzical brow at the excited woman as she raised up a needle into the air. However, at that moment, there was a sudden pick up in speed from the monitor.

"Sasuke! Put the retractors back!"

Without so much as a nod, Sasuke obeyed the command, only for all of them to see that one of the vessels had burst.

"Doctor Haruno was right...the wall of his veins were too weak for this surgery..."

"Now isn't the time! Help me tie off this vessel. And get some swabs! Sasuke, get the sucker!"

"The what?" Sasuke's voice raised mildly in confusion.

"Osaki!"

"Right!"

The green haired doctor pulled from the counter with the instruments, a surgical suctioner, which he then pushed the button for twice to show the confused man how it worked before putting it in his hand. "Get in there," he ordered, pushing Sasuke to the front. Sasuke clenched this suction and put it right where Osaki pointed before the man would run out of the room with the intent of 'getting more blood'.

At the same time that the man was getting 'more', one of the other doctors came with two bags of their own, and began the process of transfusion as quickly and efficiently as they could.

Sakura tried her best to close off the vein but was left entirely perplexed and frustrated. "It's disintegrating," she mentioned with an undertone of horror.

It was enough to make Sasuke's heart beat a little faster. He had never been in a situation like this before. There was no battle— nothing he could defeat to save the man. There was only the fight to save this man. His eyes darted to and fro. Everything seemed to blend together. Blood red, with little to distinguish one thing from the other. They all knew what they were doing. They called at each other, shouting terms that flew over his head, all while he held the tool that was keeping the area 'clear' for them. How was any of it clear?! Even with his sharingan...hell, even with the rinnegan, Sasuke couldn't see what they were seeing. All that he observed was more blood.

"He's bleeding out!"

"Sakura, it's clear that routine isn't going to work! Stop trying to close off the vein...like you said, it's not strong enough!"

"Damn it...no, we can make it work..."

"You said the poison in his body was deteriorating his body..."

Sasuke's eyes picked up to look at the man. "Poison," he repeated in question. Wasn't it an explosion? Was there something he missed?

"I took out the poison," Sakura mentioned through gritted teeth.

"Clearly it was much too late. The damage was done...it was a miracle he held on this long."

Sakura's eyes seemed to scan every bit of the man's internal organs. The panic on her face was visible, and one of the women had to wipe the sweat off her brow. "Fine, then open up the drips...get the blood in there."

Sasuke watched Sakura with tension. She didn't even look up at him when she gave him a request in an eerily calm tone.

"Sasuke. Please use the phone on the wall behind you and call 971. Ask the lab for six bags of blood."

Sasuke stood still, holding the sucker in his hand, looking between it and the pink haired woman. It was not until Osaki put his hand on Sasuke's that he noticed how much he was shaking.

"Please, hurry."

Walking backwards slowly, Sasuke turned on his heel and grabbed the white phone with bloody hands, punching in the numbers that were instructed of him. The dials took forever. It felt like an eternity before someone picked up.

"Laboratory."

"Six bags of blood," Sasuke stated stiffly.

"Uhm, what?"

"We need six bags of blood in the surgery room."

"Which one?"

Sasuke tensed up and turned towards the group of doctors, all of which were intently focused on the patient. His throat clenched up, but he forced his voice through it. "Which room is this," he asked.

The answer seemed to muddle out before it reached Sasuke's ears.

"What?"

Once again, Sasuke couldn't hear anything.

Frowning, he pressed his ear to the phone. "It's on the sixth floor!" And with that, he slammed the phone.

Of course, with all the talking going on in the room, no one noticed. Sasuke turned around to face the scene again. Stilling himself, he approached them, only for Sakura to point him to a a small heap of swabs.

"Please hand them to me," she stated without looking up.

Sasuke could only do that much, he relented in his mind. Being unable to do anything else but watch everyone in the room work in hurry only frustrated him. He felt utterly helpless, only able to follow commands of people better in touch than he was. There was nothing he could do— a feeling that filled his heart with despair. It had been a long time since he had felt like this— but he did his best to hold back.

Sakura was trying to stop the flow of blood while the blood began to enter the man's body. Each time that they filled with blood however, they had to be replaced— and so this was only prolonging the situation. Only temporary.

"Hemeostatic gauze," Osaki mentioned. "Maybe we could—"

The Haruno shook her head as a woman continued to wipe at her face. "Don't even bother. It's not an artery...it won't contract at all."

Thirty minutes passed, with two calls from Sasuke in that time. "Give us forty five minutes...we're a bit thin on blood at the moment."

"Is that a—"

"The joke wasn't intentional. Anyways, forty five minutes."

Sasuke hung up the phone and faced the mass of doctors. "Forty five minutes," he said. It was something that made Sakura go still for a moment.

They all looked at her expectantly, only for her to finally huff in frustration. "Sasuke, go to the cabinet behind you. Get the O-Negative blood."

One of the doctors in the back winced. "You don't mean—"

"Please reconsider Sakura," one woman protested. "There's people with a higher chance of survival that need it!"

"If we don't keep his circulation flowing, he's going to die!" Sakura shouted this at the top of her lungs. The air grew tense as the silence that followed her words hung over them.

The Uchiha turned to the cabinet and took out two bags of blood labled 'O'. "This is all there is," he said.

"I'll make it last...I'll make it last..."

It did not.

Fifteen minutes later, they were out once again, and Sakura was desperately trying anything in order to dam the flow of blood. She demanded that the adrenaline be pumped higher into the man, only to receive note that a higher dosage would kill him.

"Well if he doesn't get more he'll die!"

"Sakura, give it up! He's going to die anyways! We wasted all of our resources trying to save him!"

Sasuke slowly turned towards the screen which showed the man's vitals. They were dropping quickly. The machine started to blare and blink in alarm, while everyone simply stood in place— all except Sakura, who continued to anything and everything, even as the man went into cardiac arrest. He was bleeding out faster than she could work. Suddenly, her hands begun to glow green. It was a desperate move- to use the mystic palm technique. They all knew that it wouldn't work- but she was desperate.

The beeps became more rapid, and sharply stabbed against their ears, piercing through the silence in a way that made their hearts outpace the rhythm. The inexperienced man could only flick his eyes one way and another, looking for any sort of sign that someone knew what they were doing. However, he only found expressions of pity as Sakura hopelessly kept the man alive.

"Sasuke, please—"

The man, with eyes widened, looked to Sakura. His ears where ringing. He could feel his heart pumping fast as his vision blurred.

"Heart compressions!"

He understood this. It was one of those basic skills that a ninja was taught about in the academy. He'd never done it in his life, and so he tried to remember the rhythm. Yes, it matched one of those old folk songs that his mother had sang to him as a child. He tried to remember it as he put his hands on the man's chest, and begun to push down on his chest in rhythm.

_Sekkaku hareta kara tte._

He remembered his mother's singing and clenched his teeth as he pumped.

_Īwake o hitotsu hōri nage._

He closed his eyes at that moment.

_Garēji kara ikioi makase tobidashita._

At that moment, his mind drifted, and when he opened his eyes, he could see he was looking up. He was on his mother's lap, listening to her sing melodiously whilst she brushed his hair back. They were on the porch on a warm autumn day, the cool breeze kissing his skin.

The song echoed like a ghost in the wind, comforting, yet somehow eerily clinging in an otherworldly fashion.

It was then that he noticed his hands were warm. Too warm.

Raising his hands up, he saw the blood drip from his hands. He stood up and turned to face his mother— only to see that she was collapsed on the floor, dead. Looking around, what had once been a peaceful scene was now a field filled with corpses, all which wore the crest of his clan. The sky turned red, as black clouds billowed in the distance.

The ringing in his ears were their screams. They grew louder and louder, from a small hum in the air, to a loud thunder that would make him tremble. Pleas of agony, of mercy— wails of pure despair. It was so loud that it became a screeching in his ears.

Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut, his heart practically beating out of his chest, when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.

Opening his eyes again, he froze in place, once again met with the now grey face of the patient. His eyes were opened wide, and his breath hitched as he realized where he was again. He turned towards the vitals. The line was flat. The screams he had once heard were unified into the machine's tone.

The room was still and silent, watching the machine.

One doctor looked awkwardly to a clipboard in his hands. "Time?"

"5:47 P.M." Another said in hollow voice.

Osaki pulled off his coat and kicked an empty trashbin before storming out.

It was over— the operation, his life— it was all over.

Sakura was not in the room. Sasuke frowned at this, but was quickly interrupted by a hand on the shoulder.

"Excuse me," the woman spoke, needle in hand. "I need to close up the body."

Sasuke moved away to allow the woman to work, his sharingan deactivating at that very moment. There was no finese in her work. Not deliciateness. At that point, he turned around and left the room. His first instinct was to place his hand on the wall and hang his head, frowning in deep concentration before suddenly punching the wall with a yell.

He shuddered, his body beginning to tremble. "What the hell is wrong with me...?" How could something like this control him so much? He had not felt such empty pain in a long time, and it ached at his heart in horribly twisted ways. "I don't even know him," he said under his breath. His chest started to rise and fall faster, as he forced air into his lungs. His vision blurred again. However, when he closed his eyes, he could not see memories of a time of long ago. Only darkness— it was all he ever saw.

Sasuke screamed viscerally as he punched the wall again, his hand making a dent into the metal. At the same time, he had heard it crack and snap, bones crushed under the force. He grit his teeth at the pain and punched the wall again, further damaging it before turning towards the darkened hallway.

Sakura was sitting against a wall, almost tucked into a fetal position.

There was a pause. He slowly stepped away from the wall, only to stop right in front of her.

She looked up at him. He glanced down. Neither said a word.

Slowly, the woman stood up, still maintaining full eye contact. Dark eyes locked with her dulled green ones. Drained, she leaned against him, almost slumping over him as she did so.

The fabrics were much too thin, Sasuke thought to himself. He could feel the hot tears streaming down her face and onto his chest.

Slowly Sakura reached up to him and clutched at his coat before fully burying her face against him. She cried, whimpering and sobbing softly with quick, sharp breaths in between. She pressed herself into him, her body shaking terribly.

Was it often that she lost a life, he wondered to himself. How could she deal with it? Killing someone was one thing— he was used to it; he was proud of his capabilities— but to watch them die, was entirely different. They tried to save him. He couldn't look away from the man. Even when his mind drifted, he knew he had been staring at him the entire time— watching the life drain from his face until he was nothing but a husk...a corpse on the table without hope. It was beyond agony, to know there was nothing they could have done differently.

Sasuke was hesitant, but he raised his arm, and placed it on Sakura's back firmly and lowered his head. He hadn't embraced someone since he was a young boy. It almost felt alien to him— the concept of drawing someone closer— and yet he held her. For as long as the moment lasted, she wouldn't suffer alone.

_..._

Sakura and Sasuke didn't talk to each other after that. They weren't apart— in fact, Sasuke followed her quite closely. She even healed his hand. However, he did not speak to her, and she did not speak to him. Instead, they cleaned the blood off their bodies, changed, and then continued to work in silence for the next two hours.

"It's eight o'clock," she finally told him. The Uchiha tilted his head towards her as he put the tools back on the cart he had been moving. Sakura was turned away from him, looking to the vitals monitor of a sleeping patient. "Do you...want to eat something?"

Sasuke would briefly take pause, before turning back to the tools.

"I don't know if you ate while you were in the village...so I thought maybe we could—."

At that moment, there was a knock at the door. Sasuke quickly turned and walked to open it, only for him to see a group of ANBU swarm in. Sasuke's first instinct was to grab his sword— only for him to remember that Sakura had placed it in her locker.

"We're not here for you," one of the cloaked men said, putting up his hand. "We came to talk to Sakura Haruno."

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows at the group. "Me? Why?"

At that very moment, a scroll was pulled from the sleeve of the black op, who then handed it to her.

Without further delay, she unfurled it and quickly skimmed over the contents, looking up every few lines in order to affirm with the man. When she finally drew her head up all the way, she narrowed her eyes. "So the enemy ninja were caught in the explosion as well...and only one of them survived?"

"One that we know of. He was reportedly last seen being escorted in with the rest of our ninja…likely because it was difficult to discern who was who at the time. Anyways, we've identified him as Ren Sanada, a ninja from Shimogakure, a budding new ninja village in the Frost country. He is a ninja of unknown origins, but it seems he has a criminal record...at first for selling contraband but later on, for conspiring with Orochimaru to take over several countries. Each time he was caught, he escaped death by providing his services to the countries in question, free of charge."

"Services?" Sakura raised an eyebrow. "What sort of services could he provide?"

"As it turned out, he reportedly had claimed he was trained by Tsunade and Shizune while they were traveling the world. This was prior to her becoming hokage, and he tagged along with them for two years before finding himself in service of Orochimaru. We don't know how this happened...but we've messaged Lady Fifth and confirmed that she did tutor someone by his description."

"So he's a medic ninja...no wonder we found such an advanced poison in the survivors of the blast. He likely infused some sort of venom into the shrapnel in order to make sure the job got done. Lady Tsunade and Shizune were extremely adept at fashioning poisons, and there are particularly nasty herbs to be found in the region where he hails from." Sakura put a hand to her chin and turned away from them, seemingly losing herself in thought, all while everyone watched.

Sasuke crossed his arms and cocked his head to the side. "If he found himself in service of Orochimaru, as you say, then it's likely he knows more than simply medical ninjutsu. He could even have a curse mark, and the power to kill most anyone in the hospital. He needs to be restrained as quickly as possible. A man trained by two of the sannin might be more of a handful than most ninja."

"We can keep him sedated," Sakura suggested. "A curse seal didn't work on you when you were younger, so I doubt it'd work now. Better to keep him just lucid enough to answer questions. Okay, you ANBU can leave now. We'll take it from here."

"Right. We'll be close by, if you need us." With that, the group disappeared in unison and in silence, leaving Sakura and Sasuke alone once more.

Sasuke closed the door once more. "So what aren't you telling me? Advanced poisons denotes more than simply a simple attack of ninja on ninja. They were after these Konoha ninja for a purpose. It's possible that this man was even planted for the purposes of espionage."

Sakura sighed. "The scroll said that the 'reconnaissance' mission was actually an escort mission. The daughter of the daimyo was being escorted to their summer estate for her ninth birthday. It's likely they were targeting her, due to a rise in tension between civilian governments and ninja villages."

"Why not attack their own civilian government?"

"They're a new village...they are likely looking legitimize themselves."

Sasuke frowned for a moment and mulled it over, letting the information sink in for a moment. After considering all the information, he nodded. Politics was something he rarely wanted to be involved in. However, this involved Konoha, and there was no way in Hell he'd allow anyone to mess with his village. "We need to interrogate him."

"Do you know what you want to know?"

At that moment, Sasuke's eyes begun to turn red. "Everything."


	10. Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He shadows her while she remained on his mind.

"Sakura," Sasuke uttered her name, which caused the pink haired woman to look at him. After catching a glance of her, he shook his head and walked past her. "Nevermind."

His head hummed constantly. It was filled with musings, conclusions, and nightmares which swirled together like water within whirlpools. While he never enjoyed a moment with peace of mind, he sometimes achieved a rare instance in which brief clarity reigned over his thoughts. A feeling in which he could focus his attentions to a single subject without concerning himself with the other thousand things that fought for his attention.

Sakura was on his mind.

She had cried, and he held her as she did, yet now she seemed closed in. Her glances were shorter, and she occasionally squeezed her hands into a fist, along with other small ticks. He could tell she was upset- However, it wasn't the embrace. It couldn't have been so. No, something else was bothering her.

Sasuke had initially assumed that Sakura was simply too emotional. However, if their past was any indication, she was a little too tough to crack so easily, and it was becoming even clearer as time passed that there was a loose thread somewhere with this.

He tried his best to put the thought in the back burner— right then, he needed to be focused.

The door slammed open. Sasuke would stride in with the sharingan already activated, carrying in the cart assigned to him by the pink haired medic nin. Behind him, the woman followed in, with clipboard in hand, scribbling done a few notes. She was clearly a little irritated with the entrance. "You're going to break the wall," she warned, with a slight frown. However, before she was able to say anything else she bumped into the man in front of her. "Huh?" She leaned over his shoulder, only to see that a little girl sat on the bed. She turned around to face the two ninja and tilted her head.

"Who are you two?" she questioned, clutching at the bedsheets with mild uncertainty. Quickly, she covered her mouth with the sheets and coughed weakly into them before lying back against the pillows. Pale complexion, sunken in eyes— it was clear she was not in the best condition. However, it was clear to anyone just by sight, who this girl was.

Sakura'd blink, miffed. "That's the Daimyo's daughter," she stated, pointing at the child. "This isn't the right room!"

Sasuke, turned to face Sakura and pointed at the room number on the clipboard. "This is room 8000. This is certainly the right room. Moreover, you said yourself, this particular part of the hospital is only used to house very important guests."

"You forget how many high ranking ninja were caught up in the ambush. Like most floors in the hospital, this place is packed to the brim."

"This is still the right room."

Sakura sighed and shook her head. "So someone's messed up? Where could Ren Sanada be if not here?"

"The better question is why the hell is he in the VIP section of the hospital?"

The little girl chimed in at that moment. "You guys are looking for Renny?

At this, the two shinobi looked at each other, before Sakura stepped up to the bed. She leaned forward and spoke softly. "Renny? Do you know Ren Sanada?"

The little girl smiled and nodded wildly, almost as though she suddenly had energy. "Uhuh! He's right here!" And with that, the girl hopped out of bed, using the hanger with her iv drip to balance herself. Once having hobbled over to the massive curtains that divided the room, she pulled them back to reveal a man lying on a bed.

He was scrapped with about a dozen different leather straps that kept him on the bed. His hands were cuffed together, and his body was covered in different paper seals meant to keep him from channeling his chakra. Physically, he was incredibly robust— very muscular and seemingly as tall as Sasuke— maybe even more. His bright auburn hair was thicker on his beard than his short, yet messy hair. His face seemed slightly worn, but seemed no older than Kakashi. Most strangely however, were the three diamonds that decorated his forehead. They were not unlike Sakura's— though all three much smaller. A foul chakra emanated from them— enough to make Sakura take a step back. It was a familiar, uneasy feeling.

Sasuke did not falter, and instead glowered at the man. "That's the chakra of a curse mark...it's not difficult to discern the difference between regular chakra, and that." Sasuke's sharingan began to change from that of his three tomoe to the mangekyou sharingan eye. "We'll find out what you know..."

The man's head slowly turned to face the ninja, and he would scoff at them before giving a wry smile. "You've got it all wrong. I'm not a part of the people that got you."

Sakura stepped forward. "We know you hail from the same village as them...a well known medic ninja with incredible knowledge of poisons and explosions, supposedly."

"Well, you wouldn't be wrong about any of that stuff."

"So what's the difference between that and you being guilty?"

The bound man sighed. "Damn you kids are morons," he muttered under his breath. "I saved the kid's life." He shrugged over to the Daimyo's daughter before glancing back at Sakura. "She's some hoity toity important person, right? That should be proof enough. You probably noticed how the shrapnel of the bombs that were set off had poison inside them. That's why nearly all the ninja here are close to dead, if not pushing up daisies already. It's very advanced...from particularly potent flowers found up north. Luckily, I knew what poison that they'd use in the bombs and had a few batches of antidote ready to go."

Sakura folded her arms together and raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "How convenient. You knew the poison they'd use and how to counter it. Were you also just happening to walk by once the explosion went off?"

The prisoner couldn't help but laugh at this. It was boisterously loud— to the point that Sasuke found it obnoxious. "No. I knew what they were planning ahead of time. I don't like it when kids get hurt, so I decided to betray my village in order to save her life. Not to mention, that our leader is a bit of a dumbass. He thinks that he could have beaten you lot and expected war to break out over this. A war where you'd be stuck fighting the rest of the world. It would have made you all look bad, but he's out of his damn mind if it'd be enough to make the other Kages turn on you. Not all of them at least. And that's just the best case scenario. At least this way, we won't all be plunging back into the dark eras because some guy didn't get his balls tickled enough."

There was a moment of silence, in which Sakura tried her best to not seemed appalled at his language. "We have no reason to believe you," she then pointed out.

He shrugged as best as he could in binds. "Well go ask the damn kid herself."

It was at this point that the daimyo's daughter started nodding again quickly before inching over to the older man. "It's true...Renny saved my life! He took the purple goop out of my leg and arm cuts and then gave me this tea...it was gross but I felt better. Plus, he tells the best jokes!"

"It's true. I tell a pretty damn good joke. Like this: What do you call something a ninja doesn't like to do? A Nin _don't._ "

Sasuke turned directly to Sakura at that moment. "He needs to be isolated."

At that point, the child started to cough harshly, something which made Sakura rush over and return her back to bed. The moment she was there, she increased the dosage of painkillers in her iv drip.

Sasuke folded his arms. "If that's the case, why is she still sick?"

"I don't know...I'm not exactly in a position where I can check her, if you can't already tell."

Sakura and Sasuke exchanged glances at that moment, before the woman put up her arms in a shrug. "We really have no other choice. You're an enemy ninja, and until we can investigate and find out the whole truth, you'll need to be placed in a solitary—"

"No! You can't take away Renny!" The girl had bounced off the bed yet again, and pouted.

Sasuke turned to the child at that moment, who was looking directly at him. "That man is a dangerous criminal. You have no say in this."

"You can't take him away! I demand that you don't or else!"

"Sakura..."

The woman stepped up again, bending down to eye level while maintaining a polite tone. "Your ladyship, it's important that we take him elsewhere— at least until our stories are straight."

"He told you the truth already!"

It was particularly difficult to keep patient. Looking back at Sasuke, he didn't seem fazed, but instead expected Sakura to do something about the child. She laughed nervously and returned her gaze to the daimyo's daughter. "Yes, but there are strict measures we need to take...we need to confirm the stories, get eye witness accounts, do more interviews—"

At this point, the child too had run out of patience, and her own tone turned sour and authoritative. "Look you ninja, it's clear that you two don't understand just who I am..."

"But we do understand who you are! That's the reason we're trying to—"

"Save me the speech." The girl coughed quite harshly to the point that her knees buckled. However, when Sakura attempted to take a hold of her, she swatted away the hand and went back to the prisoner, putting a hand on his chest. "I'm saying that Renny isn't leaving, and if you so much as wheel him out of the room without me, I'll have this entire hospital shut down! You'll all have to go to the capital for treatment...just like everyone else. You got that?!"

Sakura couldn't do anything but stare in disbelief. Looking at Sasuke wouldn't even help in a remote way, as he stood silently, awaiting the call of the doctor. And of course he would— this wasn't a decision he could make. It was her hospital, and whether or not the child should have leniency was entirely up to her. She touched her lips with the tips of her fingers, not in contemplation, but instead, frustration. How the hell was she going to deal with this? "I guess I'll have to go to Kakashi-sensei about this." She took a brief pause at that moment and puffed out her chest slightly. "Your ladyship, please come with me so that you can explain your case to the Hokage."

The girl nodded then and would follow Sakura out of the room. Right before Sakura passed the door however, she looked back at Sasuke, whose gaze had not yet left her. "Please watch him for me. If he tries anything, you have the authority to restrain him by whatever means you need to. Try not to kill him though."

"Got it."

Sakura stared at Sasuke for a moment, seemingly in thought for a moment before opening her mouth to speak again. When words did not come out however, she sighed and left, closing the door behind the girl. This left only two men in the room.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the man held down, only for him to grin at the Uchiha. It was unsettling. "What the hell are you—."

"So how long have you been fucking her?"

Sasuke's eyes widened. That question came completely out of left field— in fact, so far left field that it hit him in the back of the head. "What?"

Though the prisoner could not move a lot, he put up his hands at the wrist, as if to shrug off the shock. "I saw the way she looked at you...and that look you give her while she was leaving." Sanada snickered, a mischievous smile growing more prevalent on his face. "She wants your Uchiha—"

"I'm not involved with Sakura."

That shut down the conversation quickly, but for the man, it certainly wasn't over. He'd grin even more, to the point that the subtle wrinkles on his face became more prominent. One could see just how much this man smiled just by seeing them. "Well, if you're not going for it, I will."

This only caught more of the Uchiha's attention. "What?"

"Look, you're a young man, and you only get so many chances with someone before that door's closed forever. If you decide that you'd rather continue with this 'I'm not getting involved' schtick you have going on, go ahead. You'll lose her sooner or later, and a guy like me'll have the perfect opportunity to swoop in. Hell, I encourage it because of that." He'd then chuckle slightly. "Besides, did you see that ass of hers? No, her whole body is just one tight masterpiece but damn if I didn't admit that ass was the best thing I've seen in my thirty six years." He slowly shook his head then, closing his eyes for a moment before looking back at Sasuke. "Heh, if I wasn't trapped in here, she'd definitely be the one with her back on this bed." He then laughed heartily, continuing to speak. "She also wouldn't be able to get up from it, ya know what I mean?! HAHAHA!"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed subtly.

Meanwhile, Sakura leaned her back against the wall as she continued to speak on the red phone at the counter. "Yes, I understand, sens— I mean, Lord Sixth. Yes, I got it. Okay...okay. Okay, okay, bye. Yes I understand. Bye." She dropped the phone on it's hook and groaned, putting a hand on her face while looking up at the ceiling light. Things could never be easy, could they?

The child was standing infront of the kunoichi, arms folded. "Well? What did he say?"

Sakura turned towards the child and forced a smile. "Well, it looks like Ren gets to stay in the room with you, Lady Ai."

"Yes!" The girl would put her fist into the air, only to quickly put that hand over her mouth to cough. Pulling it away, the two were quick to notice the blood.

Sakura quickly hoisted Ai into her arm, while using the other hand to carry the iv drip. The two made their way back to the room.

Before Sakura could even knock, Sasuke opened the door to allow her to come in, resulting in a small smile from Sakura.

"Thank you Sasuke. I really appreciate it."

"Hn."

The terse response made Sakura knit her eyebrows together with a pinch of concern. Once the girl was back in bed, she faced Sasuke and tilted her head to the side slightly. "You alright Sasuke?"

"Yes," he replied.

Her arms cupped at both her elbows as she leaned all her weight to one of her legs. She breathed in deeply, as though she would speak, only to then let it all out and turn towards the curtain "Why is Ren's curtain back up?"

"It's best we don't upset the child," Sasuke stated flatly.

"And since when did you care about upsetting the child?" Her suspicions became aroused at this, and when she narrowed her gaze at the Uchiha, he turned to face the wall to his left.

"You said I could use any measures necessary," he said dismissively. "The prisoner was being belligerent."

"Did you—" Sakura felt her heart sinking quickly. Rushing in panic to the curtains, she pulled them back only slightly, only to see Sanada lying in bed, one eye deeply inflamed and as purple as it was shiny. Suddenly the feeling of dread was replaced with that of slight disappointment. "What...in the world happened? He doesn't even look like he even made an attempt to get out of his binds. What sort of belligerent was he?"

"He was talking too much."

Sakura turned around quickly at that response. As short of a temper as Sasuke had, would he really go as low as to hit a man that had no way of defending himself or threatening others? Going through the curtain, she walked up to the man in bed and put her hand over his eye, allowing it to begin glowing with a healing light. "Ren..."

"Don't call me Ren. Call me Sanada."

"I'm sorry about my friend, Sanada. He has a short temper."

"No harm, no foul. Well, at least not when there's a pretty lady here to heal me," he said with a wink.

The woman's cheeks brightened the slightest bit, but she tilted her head off to the side. "You flatter me, but I'm afraid that I'm already interested in someone else."

"Oh? What a shame. A woman such as yourself should have a man with proper experience that she has a lot in common with."

"Such as?"

The man turned his head to the side and blushed slightly. "Well, we're both trained by the same sannin..." His eye flicked towards the pink haired ninja as his bashful smile turned into a smirk. "We're both also powerful medic nins that use our fists to do the talking, isn't that right, Sakura Haruno?"

"Wait, how do you know my—"

"I may be some unknown whelp to you, but I know a hell of a lot about you and your whole squad. You, Naruto Uzumaki, and that man over there, Sasuke Uchiha. I know a hell of a lot about him, especially."

"Wait what? How?"

"Well I worked with Orochimaru as I said, not to mention, word travels fast in the ninja world. Even faster in the criminal ninja world. You three are the ire of thousands of people, I can tell you that much." There was a silence, brief but enough to put Sakura in an unease. Suddenly, Sanada began to speak softly. "I can tell you a lot of things that I know. You know, info about you guys, about my sources, my past...hell, I might even sell out my village by telling you what other things they were planning...of course, it'd cost you. Nothing much. Just a small request."

"And what would that be," Sakura asked as she cocked her eyebrow, arms now crossed over her chest nervously.

"One date."

And suddenly, just like that Sakura flicked off his iv drip. After making sure there was no more flow, she then begun to pull off the fluid tubes from his arms. "While you sit there and think about all the ways you just messed up right now, I'll be going to lunch. And don't bother calling a nurse in here. I'll turn off the button on my way out too."

"W-Wait—"

"When I come back, you can tell me all about how you're sorry and I might give you back your painkillers. But for now, you should likely remember all that info you were going to tell us on our date and give it to me when I return."

"I'll give it—"

"Finish that sentence, and I'll make sure you don't get any pain killers at all."

The redhead scoffed and pursed his lips together. "Damn woman...you're definitely cut from the same cloth as Lady Tsunade."

The comment made Sakura finally return a smirk at the other. "You should know. After all, we do have that in common." Leaving from behind the curtain, she grabbed Sasuke by the wrist and pulled him out of the room and down the hall. Shutting the door behind them, she then let go of him. "You were right...he does talk too much."

Sasuke said nothing.

She groaned once again and put a hand through her hair. "We should have something to eat now, don't you think?"

More silence.

"Sasuke?"

The man's thoughts were elsewhere. Entirely off into a different dimension than the one they were currently in. Even though he was looking at Sakura, it was more like he was looking a thousand miles through her, rather than right at her. In his mind, he could only keep repeating those words that the man had told him.

_"...you only get so many chances with someone before that door's closed forever. If you decide that you'd rather continue with this 'I'm not getting involved' schtick you have going on, go ahead. You'll lose her sooner or later..."_

There was a part of him that thought it was foolish of him to concern himself with something like this. That it was absolutely maddening that he would even pretend to think he was right in any way— and yet it was a doubt in his mind. Was he really concerning himself enough with Sakura? Yes, he was taking her away as he had promised, but he masked his intentions to the point where he would believe that there was nothing more within them. Was that what he ought to do? Would Sakura drift from him if he maintained too much distance? Physically, they were never closer, but like with many things, the true perspective was skewed. Then again, to push forward the emotional underpinnings would be entirely too selfish. Sakura had to make the decision herself on whether or not it was worth going with him, even if there was no reward in it. He couldn't promise her many things— it would only lead to disappointment. And yet, there was a part of him— small and faint now— that wanted to promise her the world. He was closer now, he could feel it.

"Sasuke."

The man's focus returned to the forefront as a hand, gentle and soft, touched his cheek. At that moment, his sharingan deactivated with a small whirr of a sound before he shut the eye that held his rinnegan. "I was thinking," he stated firmly.

"Oh, sorry." Sakura pulled her hand away from him and folded her arms together. "Do you want me to go—"

Sasuke put his hand up at this before shaking his head. "We should eat. You keep mentioning it, so you must be feeling it."

"O-Oh...well, if you aren't feeling hungry..."

"No," Sasuke began to walk, with Sakura following at his side. "We should eat. There's a lot of work that needs to be done now, and with all that's happening, we'll already be behind schedule."

Sakura blinked. "Wait, you're going to stay until we finish up here?"

"There's no choice. It would have been preferable to actually leave, but it's clear that won't be happening...at least not now. The scale of this incident makes things a little more difficult. The work of today is good practice for what may happen out there, although I must admit...this is much more difficult, and confusing."

The conversation continued at one of the tables in the hospital's cafe, once they found it.

Sakura had ordered for herself much more than what Sasuke got for himself.

"Why are you ordering only soup?"

"It's a rare chance that I get a warm meal. I may get more later, if I'm still hungry."

Sakura nodded. "So, why are you actually staying here? You were so adamant about leaving tonight. Are you sure it wont throw anything off?"

"No, we can manage as we are now. The work we're doing here is important. For Konoha to lose as many ninja as it did in a single swoop is far too dangerous for it's military strength. More than half of them are dead now. Not to mention that the Daimyo's daughter is also involved in this. Most places would consider that an act of war, and if it isn't resolved, many more lives could be lost across the board. It takes precedence."

"I must admit Sasuke, I'm surprised that you care so much now about this sort of thing," she told him, mixing the food on her plate before taking a spoonful of the rice. Once having swallowed, she continued. "Has your journey changed you that much?"

Sasuke put down the spoon of warm liquid the moment that she finished her sentence and sat upright. "People don't change," he began.

"Something, something, inner nature, I know, but even you have to admit that you weren't like this. I mean...not this much. Is it still all about the atonement, or do you actually want to help make the world better?"

"The two concepts are inseparable. I atone by making the world better. I am doing what I can for the world to atone for my sins. I have done unforgivable things, and to be honest, I should never return home as a result. However, it would be unfair to keep people waiting for me forever. At some point, I will return...but it won't be now. It'll be when I feel I'll I've earned it, or when I feel I'm needed more here, than anywhere else. Whichever comes first."

The two would eat silently for a while after that, before Sasuke suddenly begun speaking again. "About the surgery this afternoon..."

Sakura put down her spoon at that moment and looked at the plate. "You should probably just stop there. It's really just not...worth talking about."

"Sakura."

"Sasuke, it's fine," she told him, trying to put on a smile. Of course, it didn't take the sharingan to know that it was false, and she knew he could tell. After a momentary quiet, she sighed and looked up at him with her eyes, her face still somewhat towards the plate. "He was a friend of mine. Hachi. He was a bit of a goofball...nothing like Naruto mind you, but he always liked to make jokes about this or that. Sometimes he'd play a practical joke that'd go a bit far and end up spending the night in jail." She chuckled slightly at the memory, pushing the leftovers on her place one way and then the other. Tears started to brim in her eyes. "He...said he came to the leaf village after the war because he believed in Naruto's vision for the future, and he wanted to help whatever way he could. Always did his job...always proud...and he was kind...and he..." At that moment, Sakura covered her hands with her face, her shoulders beginning to shake as she let out a sob.

As Sasuke watched her cry, thunder rumbled outside, rain beginning to pour out. A dimly lit room became even darker at this, only leading to the woman crying even more. It was loud enough now that others where beginning to take notice. The Uchiha looked around him at them all before pushing out of his chair. Stepping over to Sakura's side, he put a hand on her shoulder and leaned down far enough that he was face to face with her.

She looked up to him with tears staining her face, eyes and nose red from crying. She whimpered slightly before sniffling slightly.

Sasuke's glance softened. "We can't change the past, Sakura. Your friend is dead now, like many people that we care about. However, what we can do is live on for them, and carry their ideals in our hearts." He furrowed his eyebrows as he paused, before putting his focus towards the rain. "One way, we'll die too, and the best we can hope for is that we are remembered for what we have done for the world. The fact that he made you feel this way at his passing means that he succeeded. Do your best for him by saving the people that are still left from this incident, and carry on his principles. Make sure that the world becomes a better place than it was before. That's what he would have wanted you to do."

Sakura slowly became quiet at this and turned to look at the window as well. His words resonated with her, and in turn, she managed a ghost of a smile as her heart swelled with emotion. "You're right. Thank you."

"There is a lot I don't know, but thanks to Naruto, I at least know that much. Your friend believed in his vision...and it's easy to see why."

"Yeah."

They looked at each other. In their silence, Sasuke felt it. Close.

They drew together.

Closer.

Closer still.

Suddenly at that moment, a mass of doctors would pass by the door to the cafeteria, yelling about someone on the eighth floor. It broke Sakura out of the moment as she stood up, followed by Sasuke as she rushed to the entrance. "What's going on?!" She yelled into the hallway.

"Lady Ai started seizing!" One of the doctors rushing a cart yelled back at the two of them.

Sasuke and Sakura glanced at each other before both joining the group of doctors. Whatever the hell was going on, it wasn't going to end well. They could feel it.


	11. For You, Anything

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sasuke and Sakura race against the clock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been working on getting this chapter as best off as possible. Gone through thousands of scenarios and in the end, I feel this is the best kick off that I can give them to the journey— to start at last! Hopefully you enjoy this chapter. It was definitely a labor of love. And also, I'd like to give a big thanks to Littlepocky for coming onboard as my new Beta. She's also going to help me with previous ones as well as this one so the reading experience is better and has already done so for some of the earlier chapters. Also wanna thank MidnightHorrorShow for helping me pick out the more ridiculous mistakes in my last chapter after I dropped the ball. Sometimes you wanna turn a pretty phrase and end up spouting nonsense lol.
> 
> You should definitely check both these authors out (LP on FFN, MHS on here). They're worth their salt.

** For You, Anything **

Sakura needed a defibrillator. There was no way in hell that she'd be able to keep Ai alive on jutsu alone.

She had seized, in the presence of only the prisoner who had to shout at the top of his lungs until his throat was raw in order to get any attention from the nurses. By the time they reached her though, it had ceased. Her body had gone limp.

The scene was absolute chaos. Doctors had swarmed into the room, each one working in a panicked flurry. They had their hands on machines, and on the patient, trying anything, and everything they could to revive the child. They each yelled at each other, suggesting and destroying ideas as they worked furiously. The machines blared and beeped, indicating that the life was slipping away at an alarmingly fast rate. One could hear the crowd of medics and machines from the other adjacent floors quite clearly— and so it was easy to find where the room was.

This was convenient for Sasuke who brought in the machine that Sakura had called for against the wishes of the other doctors.

"Restarting her sinus rhythm by snapping her heart won't do anything! We've lost her already, give it up! It's been more than ten minutes...there's a less than ten percent chance of getting this to work."

Sakura looked up, narrowing her eyes. "I won't give up...not while there's still even the tiniest chance. Now take over for me while I get the paddles." The elder medic ninja switched places with Sakura, allowing her to go to Sasuke and cart the machine to where she needed it to be. Taking the paddles into her hand, she'd give Sasuke a quick glance, attempting to convey her gratitude with a short nod.

Sasuke nodded in return and stepped back. He couldn't do anything here, but he felt the thickness of the tension. It was enough to cut through the room, and his own heartbeat quickened. Still, he remained as firm as he could— it was easier with distance. When his hands weren't within the person— when he wasn't forced to watch them, it was easier. Despite this, bounced his foot impatiently, squeezing his fist to the point that his arm shook slightly. He had no idea what he was even doing, but whatever Sakura did, he followed her orders, knowing that she was in better hands with her than with anyone else.

It was strange— before, there was an undertone of desperation in her attempts, something that was uncontrolled and erratic. However, now she seemed more collected, and in control of absolutely everything. The situation was equally as bleak, but her demeanor was changed.

The Haruno woman held up the black paddles and pushed the other people aside, ordering them to stand back in a loud and present tone. When all hands were off the child, she prepared the paddles and called for one of the doctors to begin cranking up the power. "One hundred and twenty joules," she said. The moment she heard the power rising, she prepared and hovered over the patient without making any contact with her. All eyes were now watching the disciple of the fifth.

"Clear!"

The shock was enough to make the child's body rise from the bed, but still, she remained unresponsive.

Sasuke tilted his head with curiosity. Was this what the machine did? A controlled electrocution?

"One hundred and fifty joules."

The hum of the machine rose as it recharged the power.

"Clear!"

This time, she rose higher, but still did not respond. Numbers kept dropping.

"Three hundred sixty—"

One of the male doctors grabbed Sakura by the shoulder and squeezed hard. "Are you crazy?! She'll die! I can't allow you to risk the life of this important patient any further! She's a child, her body won't be able to take that much power!"

Sakura tilted her head up to match his stature and glowered at him. Her hands squeezed the paddle enough for a small audible crack to be heard. "She'll die anyway if we don't!"

"That's only a possibility! We can try something else, but shocking her isn't going to—"

"Let her," Sasuke spoke up. He drew closer to the other two, putting his hand in between the two doctors. "Electricity has the chance of killing...that will always be the case. However, it also has the possibility to restart things. My Chidori stream, for example, is a very powerful attack if focused in a certain way. However, each individual stream can be weak enough to be considered an electrical signal from the brain. This makes it particularly useful in deterring people without outright killing them. That would mean that—"

Sakura set down the paddles and grabbed Sasuke's arm. "You'll have to do it."

The sudden suggestion stunned everyone in the room. Even Sasuke seemed surprised by the suggestion. It was subtle, however— a small widening of the eyes, a tension in his arm. His bottom lip pushed upwards at his top, seemingly adverse to the suggestion.

Sakura pulled him up to the bed, and placed his hand, not over her heart, but her forehead.

"Sakura this—"

"Just make it a small discharge," she insisted upon the man who was drawing his hand away. She pulled it back into place and kept it there. "Please, Sasuke...consider it. Electric signals are given off by the brain and thrown into the nervous system. If we give it just enough, it might just be what would restart everything."

The plan was more than far-fetched. It seemed insane. However, this was also the woman who had physically pumped a heart by hand in order to keep Naruto Uzumaki alive. The one that used her hundred strength seal's chakra in order to open a portal into a myriad of dimensions— just to find him. She had always thought beyond the traditional means, doing things that ought not to have worked, and always finding aces.

Sasuke nodded and shut his eyes. He poured the smallest bit of chakra into his hand. Not enough to kill, he had to think consciously. It had to be only just enough.

"Everyone step away from Sasuke," she urged, stepping behind the man and stretching her arms outward to create distance. The crowd fanned outward, murmuring in concern as Sasuke stood with his hand over Ai's head.

The man's eyes flicked one way, then the other, and back, seemingly waiting for something, only to realize that it was all on him. The look in their eyes all seemed to indicate doubt— all except Sakura's, which were marked with hope. Taking a deep breath, he measured the chakra in his hand, as though it were a free-flowing liquid that dripped into the tips of his fingers. They twitched in anticipation before he suddenly tensed up.

"Chidori stream!"

A crackle and screech cut through the silence, eliciting gasps from the crowd. This time, Ai's body did not rise as the electricity jumped into her and buzzed through her whole body. Instead, it had a more drastic response. Her body as a whole jolted, hands clenching and eyes opening wide at the 'attack'. Her shoulders twitched slightly before locking up, as did her knees and elbows. It lasted just a moment— but the discharge was enough to make the machines go haywire, and when he pulled away, they turned off.

The body of the patient went limp.

All eyes slowly fell on the two shinobi, judging glances full of vitriol burning at them. However, before anyone could say anything, a small whimper was heard coming from the bed.

The girl began to stir.

Gasps filled the room, along with whispers of surprise and relief before it erupted in small applause. Polite claps echoed in the room as some of the doctors would shake Sakura's shoulders in congratulations, and patted Sasuke's back. While she was able to relax enough to let out a laugh out of sheer surprise— quiet and reserved—, Sasuke was not able to do the same. The people which had just a few moments ago seemed to be ready to kill him were now apologizing to him, giving him detailed reasons to their doubts, words which flew right over his head. He couldn't possibly understand what they were talking about— he barely could register what he had just done.

With the same technique he used to kill, he saved a life.

...

It was not very long after this incident that the doctors had all left the room, along with Ai, who was taken to another floor of the hospital for evaluation. All in all, among the staff, there seemed to be a much brighter air, including for Sakura, who smiled to herself as she made sure the new machinery meant to replace what Sasuke had broken worked properly.

Sasuke simply watched Sakura work on the bed, lying down with a hand behind his head and legs crossed. His feet almost dangled off the bed, and he kicked them impatiently as he observed in silence, allowing the thoughts that came in and out of his head to flow free, without resistance. He felt as though this was the sort of moment in which he should have relaxed his body. Unfortunately, it was somehow impossible. Though he tried to let go, his body would not do what his mind told him to. Instead, he opened his mouth. "Sakura."

The woman turned towards Sasuke, freezing in place with a pleasant expression on her face. Her eyes were expectant.

"How did you know that would work? You explained it, but how did you know that would work?"

Sakura seemed to smile even more at this, and turned back towards the machine, pressing buttons on the monitor. "I didn't know, Sasuke. The idea came into my head, and I simply went with it." She paused momentarily before giving a soft laugh. "I guess that makes me no better than Naruto, huh?"

Sasuke was miffed. That action did sound like it would come from Naruto— to do something just because it was the next new idea. However, whereas Naruto was reckless with his absurd risks that resulted in mixed results, Sakura's presentation and execution were absolutely brilliant. She was brilliant. Suddenly, he shook his head at this.

No, what part of him was thinking this?

Was it untrue? No, but there was something there. An undertone of something that loomed in that thought.

She was  _brilliant_.

She  _was_  brilliant.

 _She_  was brilliant.

Feelings clouded his thoughts and his responses. However, he couldn't shake them. Shutting his eyes, he couldn't concentrate and push away that feeling. It went beyond admiration and simply warm regards. It thickened in his chest and forced the corners of his lips to rise. However, when he felt Sakura watching him, he played it off as a scoff and turned to lie on his side, back facing away.

Sakura then turned to him. She had not been looking at him. "Was that all?"

"Yeah," he replied.

"Just fuck already!"

Both shinobi turned towards the curtains. What the hell was that? After a brief glance towards each other, Sakura slowly approached the curtain before pulling them back, only to see that it was only the prisoner. All around, an air of disappointment set in. She sighed before putting a hand to her waist. "They still haven't muzzled you yet?"

The man grimaced. "Had they done so, I wouldn't have been able to call for help when the girl started to seize up. She would have died, and it would have been your damn fault for turning off the emergency call system." Sakura remained quiet at this and Sanada scoffed. "You're damn lucky you're a genius of a medic and that your boyfriend is basically an electric generator. Otherwise, you'd have lost her, and you'd both have to deal with me."

Sakura would blush slightly at this whilst knitting her eyebrows. She was conflicted as to what to say. "I'm not...we're not—."

"So what is actually going on? You said you knew the type of poison that they'd use, right?" Sasuke crossed his arms and glanced between the two other shinobi. "It's entirely possible they could have added something you didn't know about, prisoner."

"Sanada."

"Whatever."

"Sasuke's right. It's entirely possible that they added something in addition to the poison at the last moment. We'll have to order a blood analysis and see where that goes. Sasuke, please stay with Sanada and watch him."

"Got it."

Once Sakura left the room, the door was closed, leaving only the two men once again to be in each other's company. There was a strange silence that hung over them, Sanada and Sasuke not willing to speak to each other right away. And why would they? Both of them had not a single ounce of respect for the other. Of course, what would save them from insufferable quiet was Sanada's one propensity to say what was on his mind.

"Still haven't made a move on that piece?"

Sasuke felt the twinge of irritation the moment that he heard the other's voice break the silence. However, when his mind registered what the other had asked, he bit the inside of his cheek and exhaled harshly through his teeth. How the hell was he supposed to bear whatever amount of time Sakura was going to be doing whatever the hell she went off to do? Already he had the urge to put a leather belt over Sanada's mouth.

Sanada smiled wickedly, a strange interest flickering in those green eyes of his. "Come on, kid. You can't ignore me."

There was nothing said by the other.

"Does she even know that you're interested in her?"

That was a strangely good question. Of course, his instinct and his mind reasoned differently. "I would prefer if she didn't," he responded slowly.

"And why's that?"

A momentary silence held as a pause before Sasuke'd respond, facing away from the other. "I don't know."

Sanada'd wriggle slightly, seemingly trying to shift towards Sasuke after the response. "You don't know," he repeated with a slight undertone of bemusement. His lips, though contorted to smile were sucked into his mouth for a moment, as though he held back a laugh. He let the expression go with a long, drawn out breath, where his chest and diaphragm hiccuped the air into a scoff.

Sasuke quickly cocked his head back the man's way. "What?"

"It's...just that..." The bearded man trailed off for a moment before snorting. "You claim you're not with her, yet you want her. You don't want to let her know, yet when I propose to take her for myself, you give me a shiner. You're one frustrated kid, I'll tell you that much. I bet all that brooding gets her panties real wet," he joked. "Why even bother with her if you won't tell her shit?"

Silence.

The older man's smile grew larger. "Oh, so now you're giving me the silent treatment? What? Too scared to tell me what actually—"

"She forgave me."

At this, Sanada stopped speaking, watching as Sasuke was staring right back at him. His expression changed to one of confusion as the other simply kept a still gaze.

Sasuke then began to speak. "For a thousand things, I was forgiven. However, my greatest talent is in battle, and to be kind, is my deepest flaw. Anyone else would know better than to trust me, and yet, she does so without resignations. I am trying to become better, to learn about the world that I shunned in lieu of the dark path, but I continue to fail. I stumble and fall and break things...people. It's impossible to see the right way when you are blind, but when you're surrounded by darkness, what is the only path you can take?"

"You have to follow the light," Sanada responded with a comment which caught Sasuke's attention.

The younger shut his eyes, still facing the prisoner. "Naruto and Sakura...they went against the grain. They plunged into the deepest chasms, surmounted countless obstacles, and endured indescribable pains to bring me back. Naruto...he pulled me out. With his own two hands and the power he wielded, I was knocked to my senses." However, it was not the same to realize a mistake than to improve in order to redeem oneself. Sasuke knew this. "You say you know a lot about me...so you know what I've done...what I became and how far I went in the name of those things. A broken weapon cannot fix itself, just as I cannot improve myself merely through my own concerted efforts." Sasuke had tried, but when there were more failures than successes- some more spectacular than others- it was time to admit that he needed more than just the will to do right by the world. "I have come to understand that broken pieces rarely fix each other. My path of redemption is beyond that obstacle. To heal and mend and comfort, that cannot be done by a blade. I am sharp, not gentle, and so I look to her."

"To Sakura? Is she...your light?"

"I asked her to come with me on my journey, but today, I followed her in her work. Observed her. Did what I could. I often learn by example. Events showed me today the difficulties of having an open heart..." He trailed off for a moment, his eyes still closed but the features on his face relaxing before suddenly freezing up and tensing again. When he opened his eyes, he sighed heavily. "Even back...when we were children...her's was the largest..." Sasuke slowly reached up for his neck and clasped his hand softly upon where the curse mark had once been.

He remembered when he first got it, the searing pain that wracked his body. It was beyond unbearable...a horrific torture that agonized him. All throughout the ordeal, he held Sakura's hand with a death grip. His hand shook and trembled, as his nails dug into her skin. He screamed out, visceral and with great pain until his throat was raw. And through it all, she was there. She watched him in horror but held him as he suffered. He wasn't alone, and he didn't feel alone. Though she could do nothing to help him, her presence was a comfort, and when it mattered, that was enough.

It was not long after that when he first tasted power. It was enough to make him drunk with it, and as any drunken man, he immediately decided that he had to fight. Of course, the situation was a little more nuanced than that- Sakura had defended him and Naruto with her life. She protected them with what little she could do and was beaten bloody. Her hair was cut and scattered to the winds, her body bruised and broken, dripping with blood and caked in filth. She could scarcely get up to shield herself. That was how he found her, and for that, someone would pay the price. The power only sharpened that urge to a razor-cut edge. It gave him more than just the strength to do it- it gave him a thirst for their blood. A desire to see them scream and beg for mercy. Sasuke craved to see them suffer. He'd have torn them apart them all for what they did, limb by limb. It would not have been enough to kill them. Never for him.

And yet, he did not.

She had too much compassion for that. Sakura could not bear to see him descend into that darkness. With her two arms, she held him back, and in tears and silently begged him to stop. She enfolded him in her arms, and with that embrace, he felt it all- her pain, her belief in him, her care for him. It was enough to make the marks recede. For him, it was enough.

After all that tormented him in the months that passed, he decided that his fate rested in the hands of Orochimaru. He was the one that had the power he needed, and to fulfill his quest for revenge, he had to leave Konoha behind. It was supposed to be simple...to leave without a word, and let everyone move on with their lives. Of course, it would not be that simple. Sakura stood in his way- but she did not battle with fists or Jutsu. She instead attempted to convince him of anything that would allow them to leave together. In a way, it left him stunned. It didn't matter if he stayed in Konoha, so long as they left together. She'd follow him, and support him, despite the peril, and despite the consequences of betraying the village.

He could never accept that.

Even with that, he wouldn't take her. No, it was too dangerous. He could not have her hurt on a journey that was his to take alone. However, he was grateful. For the first time in years, he had felt love in his heart. Her words were enough.

"She was an annoying child," he concluded. "Well-meaning but annoying."

Sanada raised an eyebrow at this. "You seem to have some hang-ups about Sakura. Are you sure that keeping it quiet is the best choice? You're better off just telling her and working it out."

"Working what out?" Sasuke would turn his entire body to face Sanada. "That's overly simplified. I have my goals...and Sakura is simply a means to an end. She knows her role in this."

"Bullshit."

The response was so quick that Sasuke staggered for a moment in his mind before being able to react. He then frowned and opened his mouth to speak, only to be beaten to the punch.

"If you didn't feel for her, she would not be a means to an end. Her effects on you convince you that she knows what she's doing. Compassionate and talented as she is, you aren't doing what you're doing because she's a legendary healer with good bedside manners. If she was a means to an end, you wouldn't give a shit if she forgave you or not. If you did not feel as though she was the only one that could 'fix the broken sword', you wouldn't ask her to come with you anywhere. If you didn't feel something for her, you wouldn't even fucking speak to her. That's a fact. Not to mention, you already outed yourself at the start."

At this Sasuke stayed silent.

"For her, you'd do anything, even put yourself in an uncomfortable situation, like working in a hospital when you have no clue whether a to check a heartbeat with a fucking stethoscope or an endoscope."

"I didn't ask for your opinion."

"Don't fucking change your mind now," Sanada called out loudly with a sneer. "You've fucking told me your whole god damn spiel and now you're telling me you didn't ask for my opinion? What am I? Your fucking therapist?!"

Sasuke stood up at that moment, glaring down at the man. However, before he could say anything to him, the door burst open, and Sakura would stumble in.

She was sweating and moved into the room in staggering motions. Out of breath, she pressed her shoulder against the door for a moment as her hand placed itself on the knob. With one heavy breath, she managed to compose herself for the most part.

Both men looked at her at that moment, but the mobile one would be the one to approach Sakura- rather quickly at that.

"What happened?"

"Lady Ai has fallen into a coma. That's what I heard...apparently, while the Chidori stream restarted her, there's still something wrong with her and now the condition is getting worse… I came here as fast as I could."

Sasuke scoffed and turned the other way. Just their luck. However, rather than asking Sakura a question, he turned to Sanada with a hand on his waist. "It's clear...that there's more than just one poison at work now. The Daimyo's daughter was never known for her health problems. Is there any particular type of plant or venom found only in your area?"

Sanada'd sigh as he groaned, almost entirely frustrated by the entire ordeal. Particularly the part where he couldn't even scratch his own head or partake in any sort of thinking tick of his. "Look, there are hundreds of flora and venoms from fauna to be found exclusively in the place I hail from. Despite my own expertise, it's difficult to tell from symptoms alone which one is the one responsible for the kid's reactions. Seizures, cardiac arrest, coma...In that order, one caused the other. I hope you realize that compounded complications further complicate deductions. Especially when maybe only the seizure was a response from the poison. Or maybe all three effects were...or maybe only two. Furthermore, how much do you fucking expect me to do while being strapped down here?!"

Sasuke paused at this response and turned to Sakura quickly, expectant of a response.

"No," she replied as she regained composure."Kakashi-sensei wants him restrained and unable to escape."

"I don't think he'd escape, to be fair. All indications are that he really isn't looking to leave- at least not until the girl is safe, for whatever reason."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. As much as she'd like to believe that Sanada wouldn't try something, it was not something she could take a chance on right then and there. "Do you know any jutsu that could keep him restrained whilst also giving him mobile freedom?"

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows. "Just one...I read about it when I was in Kusagakure whilst visiting the blood prison. I don't know how well my Sharingan would be able to copy a jutsu I have never observed in real life. I might kill him if I don't get some practice in first."

"Then he stays in the straps until you do. Kakashi-sensei is the Hokage, and we have to follow his orders."

Sanada, expecting as much only rolled his eyes. "You'd think that by telling you the damn truth up front you'd get a bit more leeway than this. Can't believe this damn shit. Saved the kid's life and I'm still suspect number one."

"Quit your bellyaching. You could be in a worse bind than this."

"Oh, ha ha, is that supposed to be a joke, Uchiha? I'm in fucking stitches over here," Sanada spoke the last part through his teeth, shifting slightly from right to left. "And now I'm getting bed sores from being held down with my back against the bed for this long."

Sasuke once again turned to Sakura, only for her to sigh in mild frustration.

"Fine, we can at least flip him over. However, I'm going to sedate him before we do so."

The redhead's eyes widened slightly at this. "What?! Are you fucking kidding me?! Just flip me over- I won't move!"

"Let's make this easier," Sasuke would stand up at that moment slowly make his way over to Sanada, stone faced as he stood over him. The older man looked up to the younger with just as much tension, seemingly expecting something. Suddenly, the Uchiha's onyx colored eye turned red as the Sharingan activated with a loud swish. The moment it did, the prisoner's body fell limp as he immediately fell under a state of hypnosis.

...

Once Sanada was flipped over, the two members of squad seven would get to work. While they could do nothing about Ai at the moment, they could still attend to the other patients that needed routine checks, medicine, and anything else that others were too busy to do. Unfortunately, a blood analysis took some time, even when rushed. The anxiety that built between the two of them was palpable. However, they did their best to push along despite that, one having more success than the other.

Whilst Sasuke stood by the entrance Sakura stood in front of an empty bed, fidgeting somewhat with the controls of an empty IV drop. She didn't seem to be pushing buttons to do anything, as it was all random. The device flashed on and off, making long, high pitched beeps as it did so. The small parts inside whirred, speeding up and slowing down with each power cycle. The raven haired man knew little about technology, but he could tell that Sakura was doing little more than ticking.

"I assume doing what you're doing will break it," he stated in slight warning, pressing his back against the doorframe. When she did not respond right away, he moved from his spot, letting go of the door that he had been holding open with his foot. Adjusting the lab coat with his only hand, he made his way towards the woman. However, the moment he drew near to her, she turned around quickly, causing him to freeze in his tracks. They glanced into each other's eyes, and within her's, he noticed an intensity that could only come from frustration in her own thoughts. It was a look he often found in himself.

"I don't understand," she told him, putting her hand up to her forehead. "Well, I mean yes, I understand, but I don't see why this could be happening."

"Are you talking about the girl being poisoned or why someone would initiate this ambush, to begin with?"

"The blood analysis won't be done for another thirty minutes at minimum. And that's of course, with a larger margin of error than not."

Sasuke raised the nubbed arm as if he were trying to show something. It was not as though he was, however- it was simply where his dominant hand used to be. "It's entirely possible that these people find nothing inside. Perhaps we should look at other alternatives."

"Perhaps? Sasuke, that's not how medicine works! She's clearly experiencing some sort of reaction to an external substance. You wouldn't know anything about this sort of thing…"

Sasuke sighed and turned away at that moment, causing Sakura to do the same.

"Besides," she continued. "Without narrowing it down to poisons, we would have even less of a clue than before. A good medic has to be able to accurately diagnose...getting it wrong could mean death."

"She'll be dead anyway."

His words left an unsettling quiet in their wake, underlined by thunder that clapped and rumbled loud enough to be heard in the interior of the hospital. Sakura bit her lip at this, and lowered her head, hands starting to run through her hair in exasperation. They ended up clasping behind her head, pushing it down as she racked her brain, trying to think of anything that could help at all.

Sasuke could only watch her do this before she pulled off her lab coat and threw it across the room in frustration. It landed on the ground, near the corner beside a trash bin, and the moment that it would, she tossed herself onto the bed, face first. Her groan of complete defeat was muffled by the mattress before she moved her head so that her cheek was squished against the surface. Knitting her eyebrows, she concentrated as hard as she could. She had to think of something- anything- but came up with nothing.

In the end, it became difficult to watch, and so, the man sat next to her and leaned forward slightly. "Whatever it is you decide to do, I'm behind it. You're the expert here...and despite your fussing, you're better than those other people."

"Huh?"

"You don't allow limits to restrain your ability to do well by others. Your worst flaw has always been a lack of belief and conviction, but when you throw away those inhibitions, you manage to make impossible things happen. Somehow, you saved Naruto. You gave him an arm. You already saved Ai's life once, and thousands of other people. For each you lose, ten or more survive. Your accomplishments are sometimes impressive enough to reach my ears in nations abroad."

"Well, it wasn't really me who saved Lady Ai...I-"

Sasuke turned to face her all the way. "I could have never thought of using my Chidori stream in the way you devised. My Jutsu has always been weapons, and you managed to come up with a way to save a life with it. Your mind has always been the sharpest, even back when we were still part of Team Seven. Wallowing in despair won't get you anywhere. Focus yourself so that we can finish this mess..."

"You know this may not be the last mess we need to fix before leaving."

"I know."

"And you would stay despite that?"

"I have thus far."

"And you would continue?"

"For you," Sasuke paused at that moment, thinking it over. Would he really stay any longer? He had wanted nothing more than to leave Konoha without any more delay. The longer he stayed, the more he didn't want to leave again. It was difficult to go when it was such an easy source of comfort. He felt a sense of normalcy at that moment that he had been trying to avoid for two years. In his mind, he knew he couldn't become complacent, and yet, he felt at home in that moment. It was her, though. He felt it was. And for that feeling, for that person, he would do anything. "Yes."

Sakura slowly propped herself up, watching Sasuke momentarily before leaning herself against his back, sighing as she did so. "Thank you." The way she spoke, the words didn't register in deep thought. She clearly took it at face value- a symptom of her stressors.

The fact that she did not take it as such was well noticed by Sasuke, and in a way, he was was less to explain that way. Instead, he leaned back slightly himself, posting up Sakura on him while shifting her weight so that he would be comfortable holding it. While she looked at him, puzzled, he kept his eyes on the wall. "The important thing is that you need to continue onward. We have work to do, and faltering won't get us anywhere. I know you understand."

Turning his body to look at Sakura for verification involved raising his arm just enough so that he could see her face. She looked at him from beneath her long lashes with a sense of expectancy. However, the man had nothing to say that she didn't already know, and so their exchange was without comment. She nodded and he returned the gesture.

"You've changed quite a bit since back in the day, Sasuke."

Sasuke's stare hardened slightly at the comment. "People don't-."

At that moment, the door was knocked on quite hurriedly. "Doctor Haruno?!" Not even a moment after doing this, a staff member would open the door and rushed in. In his hands, he carried a manilla folder which he held onto tightly. "There you are! We've been looking everywhere for you. What the heck are you doing in this empty room- actually, I'm not going to ask that."

Embarrassed, Sakura moved away from Sasuke at that moment, scrambling out of bed and rushing towards the other- nearly stumbling along the way. "Sorry about that, what's the problem?"

Upon opening the folder, the man would point at a particular part, which caused Sakura to mumble in confusion. From where he was, Sasuke was unable to see what was going on, but neither did he really want to approach them. At least not immediately.

"So the blood analysis turned up nothing?"

"There's there is some toxicity in her blood, but it isn't coming from a poison in the sense that there is a venom involved. Instead, it's a heavy metal poisoning."

Sakura tensed up at this and looked at Sasuke, who was not facing her. "So...why is she experiencing this sort of reaction? Heavy metal poisoning isn't exactly known for producing grand mal seizures."

"That's the thing…" The paper was flipped over at that moment. "While we didn't find any other poisons other than the neutralized one that was originally meant to kill her, we did find that Lady Ai was producing a significant amount of Immunoglobulin E."

The word, though complete nonsense to Sasuke had made Sakura gasp, which caught his attention. Slowly, he slid off the bed and approached the other two, situating himself behind them. "What exactly is Immunoglobulin E? What does it do, and why is it so surprising?"

The staff member quickly glanced back at Sasuke and flipped the paper again. "It's an antibody. When you have an allergic reaction, your body overreacts and makes a substantial amount of it, only to redirect it to the location. That's why you break out and have other, more severe reactions. Anyways, it's in her blood, and indicative of the fact that the allergy, compounded with the heavy metal poisoning, is the cause of her deteriorating health."

"This isn't something you can use mystical palm technique for," Sakura jumped in. "It's clear that something inside her is causing this. We need to remove whatever it is."

"So she's having an allergic reaction. Could it be that the heavy metal poisoning and the allergy are related?"

She blinked at this suggestion. "Could it?" The woman parroted back the question with an even stronger tone than Sasuke. Somehow, the wheels seemed to be turning. "You guys took X-Rays, right? Took notes during the first check up? If she was hit with shrapnel, any remnants embedded inside her would likely match rashes in those same areas. Reports could show this. That's indicative of the allergy. Then, if we can assume she breathed in fine particles of that same material, it'd definitely show a, we'll have to assume the spike in IgE is coming from something entirely different, but for now, this is definitely a lead!"

Sasuke simply nodded, because it was easier to do that than have more meaningless jargon thrown at him. "Just give me something to do."

"I assume Lady Ai is back in the room. Please go to her, and use your Sharingan to see if there's any remnant foreign obj-."

"My Sharingan doesn't have that sort of insight. Neither does my rinnegan eye." Sasuke paused for a moment and sighed. "A Hyuga would be more suitable for that."

Sakura frowned slightly and paused. "I guess we'll just need to do this the old fashioned way. I'll go with you and we'll see if what we inferred is true. Meanwhile, Mr. Jun, thank you. We'll call you if we need you."

After the exchange, Sakura walked out of the room, with her 'intern' at the tail. They walked together without speaking to each other, simply watching the other medics walking with purpose one way or another. Men and women were being rushed on stretchers, phones still rang, and medical professionals fought with each other in the hall- calling each other names and hurling whatever insults they could at each other.

" _Your argument is specious!_ "

" _Well, I don't like your tie!"_

Sasuke's eyebrow quirked at the exchanges he heard around him- most of them surrounded the slowly diminishing number of shinobi left alive during the incident. It was clear their efforts were failing, and that the attack upon Konohagakure was seeming like more and more of a success. The medics simply could not keep up with what was happening around them and were quick to turn on each other to keep themselves from being blamed. It was not unlike political talks that he had listened in on in small villages where crisis was commonplace.

"Your hospital is a mess," Sasuke commented, resulting in a glare from Sakura. "Your departure was clearly not well timed."

"Well, that's not my fault, is it?"

Sasuke scoffed. "I never said it was. If you're so quick to become confrontational, it's no doubt your subordinates are as they are."

The lucky part for Sasuke was that they had arrived at Ai's room, and so Sakura was quick to let the insult slide to refocus her efforts on the girl that was inside. Slowly, the door was opened and the lights were turned back on.

With the curtains pulled back all the way, they could see that Sanada was now fully awake, chest against the mattress, squirming even more than he was before. "You assholes better flip me back soon! This is worse than being on my back!"

"We're here to check up on the girl. We'll get to you after we're done."

The comment from Sasuke caused Sanada to grumble. Of course, he'd let the kid go first, but it was not without regret. "Fine, make sure she's alright. When they brought her in here, she looked worse than when she left."

This was true- something felt off. As Sasuke watched with his Sharingan activating, he noticed a change in the way the chakra flowed inside Ai. For a regular civilian, the chakra was an indicator of health that it was not for a shinobi. When one was fine, everything worked as it should've, but when they became ill, the flow became sluggish…

And the girl's chakra was incredibly sluggish.

Sakura noticed it too- somehow, the child looked different physically. Her skin had reached a point beyond paleness, where she seemed almost entirely translucent. Looking carefully, she could see where in the vein the needle had slipped into. Her breathing was shallow- nearly nonexistent, with her chest only raising the smallest bit before it fell down again. There was no strength in these functions. From the flow of blood and chakra to the beating of the heart, it must have all been so weak. That the girl was alive was only indicated by the machine, because to anyone by sight, she was already dead.

Slowly, she took the chart that sat at the foot of the bed, reading its contents carefully. She looked for any comments on markings on her skin, or damage by shrapnel to her body, of which, she surprisingly found quite a few. Her upper arms and back were subject to the most damage, according to the chart, and it only took rolling up her sleeves to realize that it was true. A rash was normally pink, but without much color left on Ai, it simply popped out as an almost red inflammation. Every wound carried deep red fringes that spanned outward. It spiraled in strange patterns, combining with other rashes almost seamlessly. If Sakura hadn't known what it was, she would have easily mistaken this for the work of a powerful venom.

"We'll have to take her to surgery and remove every piece of metal in her body."

"We?" Sasuke repeated intensely. "I would be of no help in that situation."

The kunoichi frowned and turned towards Sasuke, taking steps towards him before pressing her finger against his chest. Though it wasn't threatening, Sasuke still felt a strange sinking feeling in his stomach. Why did he feel as though he were in danger?

"You're going to help," she stated without any intonation that there was another option. "If you think it'll be easier out there because it won't be a hospital setting, you have another thing coming. The same thing that's happening here will happen out there, and we won't have any of the fancy technology to make the process easier. Remember the letter you sent to me the other week? The one where you wanted me to go up to some random backwater village in the middle of nowhere? This is that on training wheels."

When Sakura fell silent, she turned away again, approaching the bedside of the daimyo's daughter. Her hand gently fell on her forehead, and she brushed her hair back gently. "It doesn't get any easier, Sasuke. This is your journey you asked me to come on. In your own words... _your sins have nothing to do with me_." Upon quoting him, her voice lowered to a whisper, eyes slowly glazing over in thought. It was clear she still felt it. Sasuke could see it, and strangely, he felt the sinking feeling become worse. It was dread that filled him as he watched her. However, she interrupted him before he could even speak. "I'm coming with you because I love you, Sasuke. I want to be with you...but I also don't want to take away what should be your atonement, because I know that's important to you. That's why I don't want you to just stand in the back all the time and watch me like I used to watch you and Naruto. You shouldn't be in the background of your own story...so...I want you to stand beside me and learn. I'm not going to take away what's yours."

The only thing that could be heard from them was the humming of the air conditioner.

Sasuke was stunned by the response. All his concerns and doubts were suddenly in question. Was she really so in tune with him that she would know what to say? Her words were impactful in a way that Naruto's weren't. It took no beatdowns for him to feel and understand what she was saying. Indeed, what he felt right then was beyond simply relief, but a subtle admiration. It was a word far too strong to be associated with Sasuke, and yet he felt it. Sakura may not have understood his inner mechanisms, but she could identify his behaviors and speak to him with a level of tact he'd not seen from her before.

Perhaps he'd never stopped to notice it. Was it possible that he was so entranced within his own thoughts to never notice? Something was different, he could tell. He simply couldn't notice what.

"The point is, you're going to do this. Do you understand?"

"Yeah."

"No if's, and's, or but's."

"I'm not Naruto."

The comment made her huff before putting her hand on the monitor. Sakura felt as though her head was particularly heavy in that moment. A ringing screeched in her ears, making it all the more unbearable. It was incessant, irritating, and overall…

Familiar.

Green eyes quickly flicked at the screen only to see vitals dropping at an alarmingly fast rate. "Oh no," she whispered in horror. "No, no, no, no! Not again!"

Sasuke turned his head towards the screen as well only to see the same as Sakura.

Shit, it was happening again.

Sasuke grabbed the emergency call button and smashed it repeatedly whilst Sakura dropped the bed to a flat level. Once Ai was horizontally on the bed, she'd begin with chest compressions, only to see that it did nothing. Even with the added green glow, simple CPR would do nothing.

Sanada tensed up on the bed before struggling against the straps. "Hey- what the hell is going on?!"

"Her body's failing again," Sakura called, beginning to rush towards one of the cabinets. "I'm going to give her epinephrine!"

"Are you sure that'll help?! You need to make sure she's actually going through anaph-"

"She's not breathing, Sanada!"

"Then do it!"

At that moment, she pulled a strange, pen-like tube from the drawer and stabbed it right into Ai's outer thigh. Allowing the medicine to work its way into the patient, she held the injection for little over ten seconds before pulling it away. At that moment, the first of the doctors would come in, demanding to know what was going on.

"She's not breathing, vitals are dropping fast," Sakura mentioned. The moment she would do so, the other doctors began to work as the woman called in a code blue. Whilst she spoke to the people on the phone, she waved the Uchiha over and pointed out a specific spot that angled around the heart of the patient. "Sasuke, I need you to use your Chidori stream. Place your hand here." She looked up at him for confirmation only to nod at him when it was clear he understood.

There was no time wasted, and Sasuke put his hands over the two specific spots before channeling his chakra. "Chidori stream!" Sparks flew and directed themselves from his arms and into the chest of the child, and just as before, her body reacted with a jolt before suddenly, the machine indicated a stabilization. Weak, but present and consistent. It was enough to cause a strange stillness in the room that lingered for a few moments.

Sakura moved slowly to the machine before letting out a breath of relief. "Alright, for the moment being, we'll keep working on her. I'll cancel the code, but we need to get her to surgery, stat."

One of the doctor's raised their eyebrow at Sakura's suggestion. "I don't think she's in good condition be on the table. It could kill her."

The disciple of the fifth pinched the bridge of her nose. Strangely, despite her experience both on the field and in the hospital, nothing ever prepared her for the day in and day out battles that came with medical bureaucracy. Even while being the best, she needed to explain to the others why she had to resort to dangerous actions every so often. "I know, but she's clearly suffering from a compound of high toxicity and life threatening allergies due to the shrapnel still in her body as well as the metal in her blood. We can neutralize what's in the blood to an extent, but removing as many traces is the only way to-"

Heads would turn towards the monitor as it began to beep rapidly again. Suddenly the numbers on Ai's screen begun to drop once again, and the doctors which had just one moment ago been relaxed returned to work.

"Sasuke-"

"No," Called out another doctor. "You already shocked her enough! You might damage her internal organs if you continue to make her endure that type of stress. A shinobi may be able to take a lot more of that, but a little eight-year-old girl, especially a sick one like Lady Ai would not survive much more! We'll need to stabilize her through other means!"

Sanada wriggled and struggled against the straps on his bed. "Hey, let me help," he insisted intensely. "I can try to neutralize the poison- I just need to be-"

Sakura narrowed her eyes as she turned to Sanada momentarily. Internally, she debated to herself about letting him go- to go against Kakashi's wishes in order to save the girl she was ordered to take care of. In that one thought, however, she realized that one way or another, she would end up failing one of the two and rushed to free Sanada.

Sasuke quirked an eyebrow at this development, something which was the first sight to greet the newly arrived doctors.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

"We're going t save the girl," Sasuke replied for Sakura. "Sanada is a prisoner, but he's also a former student of the fifth Hokage. His knowledge will be invaluable right now."

No one else would say anything, and instead, they got to work on reviving Ai.

Sanada rushed to the cabinet and begun to pull out random medicines that he found, after inspecting each and every single label. I need a few more things.

"What things exactly," one of the younger medics asked.

The foreign ninja scoffed and folded his arms, using his sheer size to intimidate the man. He stood at least one head taller than any other medical shinobi in the room, and even out sized the Uchiha, though not by any more than three inches. Still, it was all enough to make him an imposing figure. "Bring me a cocktail of things. Whatever the hell you think would be useful, bring that shit here!"

The younger would nod rapidly and rush out of the room in response. It took nearly three minutes, but as the others worked to keep Ai alive, Sanada waited until the return of the guy with a medicine cart. "Fucking finally. You'd think a damn medic-nin could be a bit faster, huh?!" No one tried to defend the kid while he was being chewed out, and watched as Sanada put everything on the table and began to mix the medicines. "This'll help the kid out, I'm damn sure. I just need to make sure it's enough to flush everything out of her system…"

Sakura focused herself on her part, and upon seeing the vitals dropping further, looked towards the bearded man. "If you could hurry that medicine along-."

"I know, Haruno! You try to make a concoction that'll wash out what's in her blood in the next five minutes! It's gotta be potent and Tsunade doesn't damn well teach you this shit in her lessons."

"Blood pressure and heart rate are falling. Respiratory rate is basically non-existent."

"Shit!" Looking between two different bags of clear fluid, Sanada drained out one and filled his own cocktail of medicine in it, and then rushed the pouch to the hanger that held all of her different medication. "Which one of these doesn't she need right now?" Without waiting for a response, he yanked out the morphine bag and replaced it with the pink liquid he had made, making sure that it began to flow into her iv drip. "It's done. She should be cleaned out in a few minutes…"

"If she could only last a few minutes," one doctor would say, still doing chest compressions. "She doesn't look like she'd last one more!" He would be right. The girl looked more like a day old corpse than a living person. There was no color, no movement, nothing that would indicate she was still alive.

Vitals were starting to reach the mid teens.

It was at that moment that Sanada pushed the man aside and begun to do chest compressions of his own. They were more forceful, but yet much more in rhythm and at the pace the other man.

The doctor offended, turned away from the prisoner and walked towards Sakura. "What the hell is that guy's deal?"

People still worked around Sanada, trying their own life-saving efforts without any more luck than he.

Sakura turned towards the upset doctor and sighed. "According to the reports, Sanada claimed he was responsible for saving the Daimyo's Daughter in the initial blast. He healed her despite his own severe injuries in the blast and removed his ninja headband- the only way to identify him as a foreign ninja immediately. Rushed her all the way to the hospital, bleeding out from a piece of shrapnel embedded in his liver. He had markings all over his body which were somehow keeping him alive, and after they took her away, he collapsed and the markings disappeared. Five hundred miles in twenty-seven hours without rest. That's what he traveled. He said...he didn't like it when kids got hurt."

She was failing.

"Come on kid, fight! Stay with me here!" Tension around him thickened as he continued without success to try and resuscitate her.

"It's not going to work-"

"Yes, it is!" Sanada snapped at the voice of the random medic which had tried to reason with him. "She's going to fucking live! I'm not gonna give up on her...not until it's over!"

The machine was blaring in a silent room, signaling the end.

It became a spectacle. The man was now working on his own as others realized that there was no hope. Not even Sakura was working on the child- reminded too much of what happened to her friend. She was not traumatized, but she knew better than to make the same mistake twice.

But Sanada kept going. Against everything, he worked alone and now switched from machine to the girl, to the medicine, to the adjustment of said medication. He did all the work by himself, even going as far as to use the healing green light on his hands as he continued performing compressions. The man had to try it all. He couldn't give up- not on Ai. Not yet. She wasn't gone yet. He had to keep going, fighting against all odds.

Flatline.

At that moment most of the people in the room, including Sasuke and Sakura stared at the body or the monitor, or both, stopping entirely in their tracks to do so. There was nothing that they could do. Nothing they hadn't tried.

Sasuke closed his eyes in resignation.

It was over- the life-saving efforts, her life…

But not for Sanada.

The man continued to do chest compressions against all advice to the contrary and despite the looks that he received from the others. They watched him with pity- with empty glances that reflected their lack of belief or hope. No, to Sanada it wasn't over, even if they all thought that it was. "Come on kid," he muttered under his breath. "Breathe damn it...breathe!"

When a doctor came to turn off the machine, he slapped his hand away.

"NO!" He bellowed out, tears in his eyes. "This isn't fucking over, you hear me? This damn girl is going to fucking live, or I swear-."

"Sanada," Sakura whispered the name, putting her hand over her chest and clasping her other hand over that one. She could only watch in horror with the others at the complete helplessness.

"Please kid, come on...you better not fucking quit on me, alright? We went through a lot together to get here, okay? Don't make that all a waste...you have so much to live for...so much you haven't seen yet, kid...please…" Slowly, the water that welled in Sanada's eyes begun to flow, dropping down to his beard and dripping out, onto the body of the daimyo's child. "Please…" Slowly he lowered his head and sobbed loudly, hands still on the child. "No…" he whispered in a shudder.

The flatline continued.

Sasuke suddenly narrowed his eyes upon Sanada, noticing a sudden change in the air, and his chakra. Sakura and the others would only react when they would see it- the three diamonds that vertically adorned his forehead began to glow, and from it, rectangular marks began to sprout forth. It was not unlike Sakura's hundred strength seal, but the chakra was foul, and it came forth in a pattern not unlike the curse marks that Orochimaru gave his subjects.

With a scream of pure agony a massive burst of chakra and lightning emitted from him and enveloped the child. The machines- each and every single one in the room was suddenly overloaded and exploded, including the system which brought power to the room. Her body seemingly acted as though she was seizing in reaction to the attack, but the movements were limp. Almost as though there was no life in the figure.

His eyes hurt, and blinking away the tears only brought more when his eyes opened. Sanada's head continued to hang low as he spoke softly and shakily. "Why her…? She was just a kid…"

No one dared to approach Sanada. There was no comforting nor chiding him. They simply let him grieve, and all of them watched. Only a select few had the heart to continue their work, beginning the basis of their final report.

It was only when everyone else began to also move along that Sasuke stepped closer to Sanada, going as far as putting a hand on his shoulder, something which clearly didn't even register as Sanada hovered over the same spot, completely distraught. "Sanada-." Sasuke cut himself off suddenly when he noticed something strange.

The girl's hand moved.

It took another moment, but Sanada noticed it too, and his eyes slowly became unglazed. They filled with surprise as the child slowly began to stir murmur. As she did so, she caught the attention of the other adults in the room. Murmurs began to fill the air. All the gasps however, were saved for when she slowly opened her eyes, proving that she was alive.

At first, there was silence, but like in the aftermath of a battle, the mood of the room swung into a frenzy. The doctors all erupted into a cheer. Men shook hands. Women cried as they embraced with overwhelming joy. People threw their fists into the air, shouting with no inhibitions. The air swelled with optimism as the child sat up.

Sasuke could only stare, baffled.

It surprised everyone- as no one knew how the hell it was even possible. Even Sanada, emotionally drained as he was before, could not say that it was all no less than a damn miracle. He couldn't help but tear up as he plopped into a chair beside the bed with a heavy sigh. He sniffed and swallowed the feelings down hard as he felt an overpowering sense of relief. "You're a damn fighter for making it out of that," he whispered of the child. He squeezed his eyes hard to avoid more tears from spilling out. "Good on you, kiddo."

The emotions rushed over Sakura like a riptide, and without thinking, she threw herself at Sasuke. She pressed her lips against his in excitement, arms wrapping tightly around his neck. Her full weight was now upon him, and she pulled herself up with her forearms on his shoulders. She was not thinking as Sasuke suddenly found himself frozen in place.

The world around them seemed to fade away at that moment, even when some eyes fell on them.

His hands found themselves on her waist as he stared at the woman with wide eyes. It was only when she opened hers to see his that she moved away. Slowly, she slid down his body, still looking right at him. Sasuke felt his skin began to rise when their lips brushed as she moved from him. His grip loosened enough for her to move down, but still held some tension.

"S-Sasuke...I..." Her emerald shone brightly, even as her glance downcast towards the floor.

Sasuke tilted his head slowly, almost as if attempting to understand. His eyes darted in small but subtle motions— almost as though he was looking at every feature on Sakura's face.

"It was... I—"

His lips crashed against her's forcefully, and it was now her who stood motionless in shock. Even if she wanted to move though, there was no way. He held her too tight. The space between them was gone. Chest to chest, body to body, they were pressed as together as tight as they could. Sasuke leaned forward into the kiss that he created. It only lasted a brief moment, though.

"Sasuke..."

He moved away from her, his eyes widening the slightest bit. Subtle, but noticeable. He turned away from her, only for him to feel her weight on him again.

"Thank you," she whispered.

For a moment, fleeting as it was, he smiled.

...

Sasuke could not tell where or when things took a turn as they did. The moment had not been about them, and yet fever pitch feelings still led them here. What had been a moment where life turned from grey to Technicolor in slow motion, was now a dark rushing blur of movement and heated breaths. They were away from the rest of them at the top of the hospital. It was only to talk, but somehow, it had reached this point— without words ever being exchanged.

He slammed her against the wall of the door that leads to the staircase down. He pressed himself against her again. It felt right to him. There was no preamble to his actions which resembled those of a man who had not tasted the sweetness of water in years. It was carnal and of pure instinct when he started to pull off her coat and kissed the side of her neck.

He had never done it— any of this before. At most, he had observed the behavior on his many travels, from the highest echelons to the seediest of underbellies of society. Sex was everywhere, and he had always been an observer, passing by alleys or palaces and scoffing. He was above it all, he thought. He didn't need it or even want it, he convinced himself. The ignored the signs within himself all the while. The urges he felt. The strange visions at night that haunted him until the morning. The ones that had him spilled with seed when he woke up. His past self would feel shame to act as they did, those that acted on baser desires. Now instead, he ignored the reservations. He ignored the part of him that always told him no, but not without questioning himself. Not without hesitation.

Why the hell was he doing this?

It felt all too fast. Something within Sasuke screamed at him to stop. For him to reconsider, and pull away while he still could. It was all too difficult as he looked at her, and into those eyes. Green, glimmering, expectant. It felt like home to look into them. How long had he wanted this, he tried to remember. However long, he knew damn well it would have been impossible to resist if he came home, and yet he did anyway. Of course, the man couldn't resist— it was too hard.

"Sasuke—"

"Don't say anything," he urged her, brushing her arms as the lab coat dropped to the floor. His mind swirled with enough thoughts. He wanted to silence them all at once, and though Sakura's voice cut through the thick of it, she also helped raise their volume. It was all his conscious, begging him to stop. It was too soon. He couldn't do this to her— taking her away from this place: her work, her home, having her abandon everything...that was selfish enough.

Where would it stop? How much of her was he going to take?

"Damn it all," he muttered under his breath, before claiming her lips in another harsh kiss. His eyes closed as he allowed his feelings to overwhelm him.

It was entirely unlike him to initiate anything, but something had clicked— something which he himself had not yet noticed. He did notice the irony of it...that after years of pushing away her advances, it was him who was now pursuing things. He returned her feelings when he first left with a touch, and now he would consummate it with another. That was his intent right then— his conscience be damned.

It could have been a thousand years, or just a split second, however, somewhere between his shirt and her belt, a voice would chime.

"Ahem..."

The two would cock their heads to the side at the same time, only to see a singular figure on the opposite end of the building.

"K-Kakashi-sensei...?!" Sakura could barely get sound off of her throat as it tightened immediately.

Sasuke slowly parted from the woman before him and ran a hand through his hair. What the hell could he even say?

"Well, well~ Would you look at this..." Kakashi's tone told everything— from how much he'd seen, to how long he had been standing there— something which neither of the younger shinobi was particularly pleased about. "And here I thought that Sasuke might have been telling me the truth about why he was taking you away."

Sasuke frowned. "What are you doing here?"

"It's too late to be offended now," he warned in an amused tone. "Anyways, I was just here to see you off. You know, since I did go through a lot of trouble to speed up your paperwork."

"Wait, what?" She's surprised. "I didn't get all the signed forms to you though. I was missing the-"

"Oh? I guess I must have another Sakura Haruno applying to leave the village. I'm certain I already got them." Kakashi pulled from his left sleeve, a completed form sheet. Yet it was not her handwriting.

Without thinking, she tackle-hugged her teacher and squeezed him. It was still tight enough that Kakashi groaned, even though she did not use her chakra strength. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" The joy in her voice could not be contained.

He patted her back and chuckled. "Let's settle down now...no need to make Sasuke jealous." At this moment, he winked at the man. The young man could only react through the embarrassment to give a dismissive "Tch." This only made Kakashi laugh harder. "Ah, well...I suppose that I should tell you the other reason I'm here..."

It was at this point that she pulled away from him, and he took the chance to pull from his robes, a scroll. "One more mission. You can call it a way to thank me for letting you do this, against the advice of my contemporaries."

The Haruno woman took the scroll in her hands and opened it. Scanning with great speed, she was able to parse out all the major details. "An S rank mission?"

"Well, you both know about the man that was caught from the ambush. Mr. Sanada. As it turns out, his village is willing to pay us for the mix-up. As it turns out, they were supposed to attack the ninja from a different rivaling village. As a tribute to us, they are willing to make amends by killing any of the people involved in the mistake."

Sakura raised a quizzical brow. "Wait, that doesn't make any sense. How could you mistake a mass of ninja from a village that isn't ours? We have such distinct uniforms! How could they say it was because they mistook our headband's shape?"

Sasuke tensed up. "Sanada wasn't even part of the ambush. He had his own separate efforts to undermine it. They're going to execute him for treason if he goes."

"I understand that it may seem confusing to you. We could easily just refuse their offer but unfortunately, the international incident that was caused by the incident has resulted in the eyes of the other Kages to be placed on the village. They expect Konoha, the originators of our newest peace treaty to prove that we are willing to be forgiving and kind...and usher in an era of cooperation between ninja. As a result, we're willing to play ball with the terms that Shimogakure has laid out."

"And Sasuke- he's coming with me?"

"Well, he and I made an arrangement. If I was to let you leave, he would once again become a registered ninja under the village. It was one of the reasons I decided to push through all the paperwork."

"Wait, so he's..."

"Yep, you'll be taking on a genin."

"What?! Sasuke?!" She looks at him. "But he's..."

"I would have given him a wartime promotion after reconstruction ended, but he'd left by then. It's not like Naruto, where he's basically being given a jonin crash course. Sasuke doesn't want to become Hokage, so he could have simply been promoted on the field, like you and Shikamaru. However, I have my reservations. I can't in good faith give promotions to shinobi that aren't around for their village. So thusly, as far as things are concerned, anything he does is your responsibility now."

"Y-You're joking."

Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle at this. "Now, before you two leave, you'll need to come back to my office so we can update your registration photos. Come along, now."

"BUT-!" Sakura watched, bewildered as Sasuke simply walked behind Kakashi, seeming entirely complacent to this.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

* * *

Sarada threw her head back in laughter, her cheeks hurting from how wide it was. Kakashi too let out his amusement but in a more reserved manner. His eyes were fixated on the young Uchiha daughter.

"You can tell they that neither of them really wanted to be in this situation," he pointed out to her.

It took her a moment to come down, though she could not stop from smiling, even after relaxing somewhat. "Don't jonin normally get a three man team, though?"

"Well, that's true, but I didn't exactly have any other genin available."

Sarada opened her mouth but was quickly interrupted.

"Naruto was busy on another mission by the end of that day. S-Rank as well. You know how things are..."

Sarada narrowed her eyes at this moment, the smile disappearing from her face. She watched the people as they walked on the road in the far distance before shaking her head. Something just didn't make sense. "Why did you sign the papers? Other than because Papa said he'd be a ninja again? It just doesn't make sense...you could make him do anything you wanted anyway, couldn't you? And couldn't mama get the papers done later anyway?"

"Your mother wanted to leave that night...your father urged her to do so for whatever reason. Of course, considering how I found them, it was likely that he would have waited for her a day or two more. I didn't know of course until I got there. As far as I knew, it had to be that night. Your mother is a very resourceful and very efficient kunoichi, but she isn't a one man army like Naruto or even your father. She never managed to master the shadow clone technique, for example."

"What?!"

"Regular Ninjutsu was just wasn't her thing. Now, she's a legendary medical-ninjutsu user and a taijutsu expert with an affinity for genjutsu but..."

"I get it." Sarada nods. "You can't be great at everything."

"Don't write her off, now. If it wasn't for Sakura's efforts in the war, we would have surely lost everything."

"Oh, I know that." She looks down with a small smile.

"What are you thinking?"

Sarada turned towards Kakashi at that moment. "How did you get him to agree? Papa has always been particular about his freedom...did he really give it up like that?"

The former Hokage shook his head and put up his hand as if he were giving a lecture. "It was more of a trade."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll explain...it was the night he had returned to the village..."

* * *

Somehow, Sasuke regretted not being more stealthy when sneaking into Sakura's bedroom. Between Sakura and Kakashi, he had had enough, and turned around, as if to leave. There was no reason to stay in the Uchiha district.

"Wait," Kakashi called out, putting his hand out towards him.

The Uchiha stopped at that instant and turned halfway around. He then looked off towards the distance before turning his head towards the Hokage. When their eyes met, there was an intensity in both, though Kakashi's was much more cautious.

"You realize how long it takes to request leave from the village, right?"

The former criminal said nothing.

"You can't just up and leave with little words like you had. She'll end up a missing-nin, just like you. She'll be prey for whatever bounty hunters or village shinobi that decide to look at their bingo book. There's a process, special papers you need to apply for and those take mon-"

"Sakura isn't going to just run away."

This statement caught Kakashi's attention.

"And she isn't going to wait either," Sasuke said, turning away from him once more. "You know that as much as I do. I'm leaving tomorrow. So whatever stamps you need to use, or papers you need to sign, just do it. I'll take care of whatever else she needs."

Kakashi narrows his eyes at Sasuke, folding his arms at him. Such disrespect...the man hadn't even acknowledged him once as the Hokage of the village. The way he looked at him, he could see the twelve-year-old boy that had his hands in his pockets right before him, giving him a familiar look of contempt. Softly, he chuckled to himself. "You haven't changed at all, have you? Well, alright then, I'll play along. I suppose that those shinobi pay raises can wait a few days, but you need to do something for me in return."

"What are the terms?"


	12. The Rain Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rain keeps them from parting ways.

There was no time Sakura wished for Kakashi to inconveniently fall ill more than after the ordeal he made them go through—all the name of a photo.

Clutched in Sakura's hand was a copy of the picture the two had taken with their Sensei—a keepsake that Sixth Hokage had decided he had to have at the very last moment. Sakura couldn't even find enough time to dress properly! All she could do was replace the doctor's coat with her jounin jacket whilst Sasuke decided to simply switch the uniform for his old clothes. It was not flattering in the least, and yet now she had a print of the developed film in her hand.

"Burn it," Sasuke suggested plainly.

"Trust me, I'm thinking about it."

As the two reached the outside, they were met with massive rainfall, without an umbrella or a sort of covering. The two looked at each other; with Sakura's eyes indicated she already had an idea.

Sasuke knew where this was going, and he didn't like it at all.

"Would you like to spend the night at my place?"

The two members of squad seven stood beneath the roof at the edge of the Hokage's mansion. The torrential downpour that now covered the entirety of the leaf village had started out of nowhere not long after they were briefed on their new mission. Kakashi had insisted that they stay until the weather cleared up, but it was late in the evening and the two had to leave Konoha the next day.

His eyes drifted down slowly.

"Sasuke..."

"No, it's fine," he insisted, pulling the hood of the poncho over his head. "I can deal with this weather."

It went without saying that Sakura balked at the idea of Sasuke sleeping out in the rain. "And catch your death? No, you need to sleep under a roof."

There was a momentary silence between them before Sasuke tilted his head down, towards Sakura. He did not speak, and neither did she, the two seemingly staring each other down with a strange intensity. The air was not right between them—that much was obvious—but despite both knowing why that was the case, neither addressed the issue.

"Please."

Sasuke relented with a grunt, only to then flick his eyes in another direction. "You concern yourself with unimportant things too often. What will you do when we're stuck out in the rain and neither of us has a roof?"

Sakura sighed. "When that moment comes, we'll deal with it. For the time being, we shouldn't pretend that we don't have the luxury. You own all the property in the Uchiha district and you intended to sleep out in the rain? That's the sort of stupid thing Naruto would do!"

"Getting used to the comforts found in a proper society makes it difficult to cope when you don't have it."

"And you think you'll get used to it if you sleep inside a house for a day? Now you're just stretching."

The Uchiha man couldn't give a proper response to this and instead begun to remove his poncho. This made the woman beside him curious until the large garment was put over her. "You're the one that needs this more. I'm used to the outside elements. You'll likely have a harder time adjusting—."

"Are you acting strangely because of what happened on the roof?"

Sasuke paused momentarily at this before turning away from her entirely. He faced towards the doors of the Hokage's mansion, which were now locked, with the lights completely off.

Sakura glanced towards the floor, seemingly searching for the right words but coming up empty. What could she say to this? While it was clear now that Sasuke had some sort of feelings he wasn't completely being open about, she couldn't tell what he was thinking. Could it have been the stress? Was he in the right mind? If he really did feel something, how deep did it go? She was afraid to touch upon it—afraid that if she were to delve at all, the delicate situation would shatter and devolve quickly.

Or perhaps that if something happened, he would regret it later.

Sakura ghosted over her own lips with the tips of her fingers, brushing over them as she remembered the kisses they shared on the rooftop. She shut her eyes and felt his hands on her body again. Transported back to that moment, she could only replay it, over and over, searching for a hint of something—anything that would give her any inkling of his thought process. However, the only thing she could think of was the only thing she thought of at that moment: it felt right.

Neither of them was really thinking, were they?

Sasuke started to walk first and stepped out into the rain. His hair immediately dropped down as he became drenched by the unceasing rain. Sakura followed not far behind, holding onto the hood over her head, so as to make sure her own hair didn't suffer the same fate as the others. As the two hurriedly made their way around the perimeter of the village, the kunoichi's eyes were entirely fixated on him.

In her mind, she continued to search for what to say and how to say it. The magical words that would somehow make everything better. Naruto always made it look like a cinch, so why couldn't she do it? It all seemed too complicated for her to simplify and solve in a few sentences, or even a well placed speech. And in the end, that always seemed to be the case with Sasuke. Nothing Naruto  _said_  ever got to him. Words had to be accompanied by a well-placed fist in the jaw and an arm-disintegrating Rasengan so that he would let the message sink in. But Sakura couldn't do something like that! She couldn't hurt the man even when he bore down on the world and threatened to destroy the shinobi system. What would really make her go against him now that he was merely being the stubborn guy he normally was?

 _Not to mention_ , Sakura thought,  _he only has one arm left anyways._

No, being like Naruto and pretending as though Sasuke is anything similar to Naruto were both terrible ideas.

But what was she to do? It truly tested her abilities in communication...this sort of situation had never happened to her before—and she really didn't expect it from the Uchiha of all people. Who would've guessed he even  _had_  a sexual or romantic drive of any sort? Was this even a romantic situation?

All she knew was that it was a mess, and she was the only one that could unravel it.

The moment the two arrived at her house, Sakura made sure that Sasuke was the first one inside, and she'd follow in, closing the door behind her. As soon as she flicked on the lights, the poncho was off, and she'd throw it right back to its rightful owner. "Dry yourself off with it...I'll go heat up some tea." She then paused, offering a somewhat self-conscious smile. "After all that rain, I think we could both use something warm."

Sasuke silently dried his hair as Sakura spoke, only stopping to look at her when she herself stopped talking.

Fighting the urge to shrink back, she frowned slightly. All her courage was collecting into her chest as she drew in a breath in almost the same way that she collected chakra in her forehead. It was something that caught his attention further. She then exhaled and spoke. "You don't have to...be afraid...to talk about it," she finally told him. "It happened...and I'm going to be traveling with you, so it isn't as though it isn't going to come up at some other point. Better to just get everything out in the open right? I mean...your intentions and—"

"My intentions have always been the same," he interjected. "What happened on the roof is entirely different from—"

"Then what is it?!" Sakura changed from her reserved approach and was suddenly as direct as she possibly could be. Her eyes betrayed frustration and confusion. However, when Sasuke reached his hand out towards her, she jolted back, shutting her eyes tightly.

No, she couldn't be civil about this—not the way Sasuke would want her to. "You leave for years, telling me your journey has nothing to do with you, then you come back, insisting I come with you, that it's all for some higher purpose and now  _this?!_  The worst part is that you  _refuse to tell me anything_. You just assume I'll go with every little thing you tell me and not ask questions! Like what I feel for you is enough to make me walk to the ends of the earth without a word in the other direction!" She breathed heavily after the stream of consciousness that spilled from her mouth, trying her best to catch her breath before suddenly continuing. "It's not going to fly, Sasuke! I need to know now... _right now_  what the heck it is you want me to go with you out there for...what the deal is with  _you_  and what the deal is with  _us._  I need to know...I can't just...keep following your words blindly."

Stillness overcame the room, and for the longest time, Sasuke refused to look at Sakura, his eyes fixated towards the window, where he saw the torrential downpours continue. Slowly, he sat down, and as he did this, he turned his face towards the floor, still gazing with a stare that pierced a thousand miles in any direction. Normally, the voices in his head hummed with such fervor that a response to something like this would have been impossible. However, when she spoke, they all silenced at once, only one brave enough to bring forth a succinct summation of Sasuke's position on the matter.

_This is a complete mess._

Raising his head, he was immediately met with the gaze of the woman, her eyes as expectant as ever, glimmering in the way only her eyes could. However, they also struck him with a sharpness that made his chest tighten the slightest bit. No, he wasn't in danger, he didn't feel it...and yet, he could only move back slightly when the two stared each other down.

He was cornered in this, wasn't he?

Sasuke drew a breath and allowed his body to relax before beginning to speak. "I am taking you out of here for two principle reasons. The first of which is because I have realized that I am not sufficiently prepared to deal with the sort of issues that now face the world. In my attempts to gain redemption, I often find myself helping the people that I pass by, performing good deeds whilst learning about the world and the people in it. While I have had successes in my travels, I often find that I am ill-equipped to deal with the day to day trials of the new world. It's not the same one of our youth...and while some things remain similar or even the same, I can't use my usual methods to solve much. Sometimes I can even feel that in my attempts to help, I slip back into the person I used to be. My decisions aren't the best...and I have come to realize that. You're a medical ninja...and not only that but one more in touch with what the world is now. There are many qualities that would make you desirable for my purposes. I want to learn so that I can do more and not continue to create more issues in my wake."

"And the second reason?"

At this, Sasuke shut his eyes and took an even deeper breath than before. "It's difficult to explain. What happened on the roof...I want to say that was a lapse of judgment on my part. However, that would be discounting a lot of things. It would be unfair to you."

Sakura found herself sitting beside Sasuke, leaning forward as though to match his eye level exactly. "What does that mean?"

"I feel that you know the answer to that question. I don't feel we need to make declarations when the actions speak for themselves. However...I don't feel that now...with everything that's going to happen regarding the mission and then..."

A moment of silence gave Sasuke a momentary reprieve.

Sakura bit her lip, looking Sasuke over before looking past him and towards the window. It was still raining very hard. Turning back towards the man, she softened her glance. "Just because both of us feel a certain way...that doesn't have to change anything." She allowed the corners of her lips to rise into a reassuring smile. "I understand that this is all new for you. Normally I'd say that's part of the fun...but we can meet half way about this, right? I know you probably don't want to do this now...for whatever reasons you have. Maybe we can just...test the waters as they come? No pressure, but also not pretending that something isn't there? I won't push anything you're not comfortable with."

In a way, this felt even more embarrassing than being caught by Kakashi. At least then Kakashi wasn't treating him as though he wasn't capable of handling a difficult situation. However, he had to swallow his pride. Could he really handle anything more than that at the moment? By virtue of thinking with the wrong head, he already complicated a complex situation. The equivalent of revealing leaking top secret information to the enemy. Ignoring what happened and the changes to their dynamic were absolutely off the table. Back out or lying would only make things worse.

"I suppose...that's a decent proposition," Sasuke began slowly. "I'll agree to those terms. However, I am perfectly capable of handling anything. As a shinobi, there is no situation which I am not comfortable dealing with."

"That's all well and good, but this isn't exactly like assassinating an enemy ninja. There might be something—"

"There may very well be something which I am not yet prepared to deal with...but that's why I asked you to come with me. Like I said, I want to learn and improve. If it means that we become entangled in certain situations, that's just the way it'll have to be."

Sakura couldn't help the small twitch that began as she continued to smile. "You know...the way you talk about it...I'm telling you this isn't like a mission."

Sasuke scoffed and turned away entirely, his face obscured to the other. "I know. This is another sort of matter altogether. However, even if that is the case, I won't back away from it. Like I said, it wouldn't be fair to you...now that it's all out in the open like this. I'll do my best. I'm only sorry I've complicated an already tedious situation. You didn't need this from me. I apologize."

A sudden laugh made Sasuke turn around in confusion, only to see Sakura with a hand to her mouth, seemingly holding more back. When she couldn't, she did her best to keep it stifled, only to fail on that front too. It was only when she finished laughing that she looked back to Sasuke. "Absolutely ridiculous. You really do need help, don't you?" Pausing, she looked up towards the roof, unable to contain a grin. The brightness in her eyes was unparalleled at that moment. "Even if it isn't the way I've always imagined it...I've waited for this moment for a long time. It doesn't matter how it came or how bad you are at explaining yourself." She allowed the satisfaction to seep in; her entire demeanor switched entirely—now seeming as though she was smugly relishing the moment. "Well, it can't be helped. Since you want to be of help, I will! With my help, you'll definitely shape up, and that's a guarantee!"

Regret never came so fast. Sasuke tried to angle a response in his mind but could find nothing he could say. There was something unsettling about being in a new, unknown situation. So often in the battlefield, Sasuke knew exactly what to say and what to do. Quips were as fast as his movements and hit just as hard, piercing through his enemy. Strangely, here he stumbled and struggled to even stay at equal level with her. Sakura seemed well versed in this sort of thing, an expert where he was a novice. The Sharingan was of no help in a battle such as this.

She put a hand on his shoulder and leaned in, something which instinctively made him reel back somewhat. When she didn't immediately draw away, he realized that it was better to simply relax, and did so.

"Sasuke, I'm not going to be any different because of this, and neither will you. I promise you that what happens between us isn't going to interrupt your work. The last thing I want is to get in the way of something like this. It's important to you, so it's important for me too." Her hand rubbed on his arm in a comforting way, and she did her best to maintain eye contact as much as possible. She knew the air was tense for him, and so she did her best to quell the most immediate fears.

Sasuke put his hand up and pressed it against the one on his arm, slowly closing his fingers around it. There was a sense of expectation from her—for him to say something in return that would reassure her of his intentions or perhaps to reassure her once more that he would give it his best shot. Of course, that'd be expecting too much of a man like Sasuke. He instead moved her hand away from him but kept it clasped in his grip. "It's getting late," he said to her with a twinge of nervousness in the base of his voice. "We need to wake up early to meet with Sana—"

Sakura took the chance to lean in and cut Sasuke off. Her other hand gently cupped his cheek as she pressed her lips against his, something which strangely enough, relaxed him as much as it surprised him.

It was almost instinctive, but Sasuke would return the kiss, leaning forward into it as he gently let their hands fall to her lap. Only when he tried to draw closer than that did she move away from him.

When she pulled away, she moved her hand away from his, propping it on his chest as she smiled right up at him. "I'll be seeing you tomorrow, then. There's a closet to your right. Inside, you'll find a few comforters and pillows. Make yourself comfortable. I'll be upstairs." With no further comment, she took her time in getting up and made her way to the staircase that led up to her room. Seemingly all too satisfied, she disappeared upstairs, leaving Sasuke alone to his devices.

He was left utterly confused at her sudden and abrupt leave, but he wouldn't pursue it any further. At the very least, it gave him a moment to let out the breath he didn't know he had been holding, before leaning back on the sofa, letting his arm hang off the side as he propped up one foot.

This was all beyond confusing, and yet in a way, it brought him the sort of excitement that made him want to get up and move around. It was a restlessness that pumped his blood to places that really didn't need something like that. There had to be something to it, he thought to himself. Why did something like this make him feel this way? His concerns weren't entirely answered, and he still held doubts as to how he would go about this. It was one thing to promise that this wouldn't get in the way of his work or his redemption, but another to see it for himself. A part of him wanted to believe it; it wanted to believe that it would all work out without any issue. It was always a danger to expect the best, but it was still on his mind, regardless. Something inside him wouldn't let him dismiss it, or even properly discern the good from the bad. Instead, he could only think of the kiss, and how his hand held her perfectly. It felt right to him. Nothing else could feel so right.

He realized then that this wasn't going to be easy.

Forcing his mind to return to the present, Sasuke kicked the poncho off the sofa and sat up properly once again. He tried his best to focus on the present, and not continue to replay a moment a million times in succession. "She didn't make the tea," he noted. Standing up, the man slowly began to make his way towards the kitchen. It was easy to tell where everything was when her house reminded him so much of the one he used to call his own. Still, he knew now that had a new home now—the one of his past no longer existed.

He glanced once more at the window. The rain was still there, once again reminding him that he was stuck. Suddenly then, thunder struck.

No, it wouldn't be easy...but it would be something.


End file.
